Qass 
Book 



/ 



A PLEA 

FOR THE 

DEITY OF JESUS. 




Tublifhm 1 by W. Brawn . Lpndo?i 



A PLEA 



FOR THE 



DEITY OF JESUS, 

AND THE 

Doctrine of the Trinity ; 

BEING A 

CHRONOLOGICAL VIEW 

Of what is related concerning the Person of Christ, the Holy 
Spirit, and the Trinity ; whether in the Sacred Writings, or in 
Jewish, Heathen, and Christian Authors, 

BY THE 

REV. DAVID SIMPSON, M. A. 

Late of St. John's College, Cambridge ; Minister of Christ's Church, Mac- 
clesfield; Author of A Plea for Religion, &c. &c. &c. 




WITH 

A MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR, 

AND 

The Spirit of Modern Socinianism Exemplified, fyc 
BY EDWARD PARSONS. 



" I desire only to have things fairly represented, as they really are ; no evi- 
dence smothered or stifled on either side. Let every reader see plainly 
what may be justly pleaded here, or there, and no more ; and then let 
it be left to his impartial judgment, after a full view of the case. Mis- 
quotations and misrepresentations will do a good cause harm, and will 
not long be of service to a bad one." Waterland. 



LONDON: 

T'RTVTFT) FOR W BROWN, CHURCH-STREET, BETH NAL- GREEN-ROAD : AND 

ROBINSON AND SON, AND HARD CASTLE, LEEDS. 
SOLD BY BYY^ES, 54, HAMILTON, 37, PATERNOSTER-ROW, AND WILLIAMS, 
STATIONERS' COURT, LONDON ; JACKSON, LEEDS, AND BAYLEY 
AND WILSON, MACCLESFIELD. 



1812. 



Dewhirst, Printer, Leeds, 



MEMOIRS 

OF THE LATE 

RET* ©AVIJD SIMPSON, M, A. 



DAVID SIMPSON was born October 12th, 
1745, in the parish of Ingleby Arncliffe, near 
Northallerton, in the county of York. He had five 
sisters, two of whom died in infancy, and a brother, 
who died the day he was born. To his name the 
highest titles of earthly distinction can add no im- 
portance. The character he maintained in the world 
as a Christian, his usefulness in the church of God 
as a Minister, and his labours as an Author, ren- 
dered him a burning and a shining light while living, 
and will perpetuate his memorial now he is num- 
bered with the dead. 

His father, Mr. Ralph Simpson, was a re- 
spectable farmer ; and Mr. David Simpson, who 
was his only son, was designed for the same occu- 
pation : but God, who never loses sight of the chosen 
instruments of his glory, and who preserves and 
prepares them for the service he has assigned them, 
was pleased in this instance early to reveal his 
pleasure in calling him from the pursuits of the 
world, and in separating him to the arduous and 
awful work of the ministry. His own account of 
this dispensation is very remarkable. Although 



MEMOIRS. 



his Father made no religious profession beyond 
attention to the duties of morality, he did not neg- 
neglect the form of family prayer : this exercise 
was sometimes performed by the father, and some- 
times by the son, aided by a short formula, adapted 
to the use of families, in a little work called the 
Christian's Monitor. 

Mr. Simpson refers to one of these occasions, 
in a brief account of the leadings of Providence, 
and the sovereign influence of divine grace upon 
his mind ; "When I was yet a boy," he says, "and 
undesigned for the ministry, either by my parents 
or from inclination, one Sunday evening, while I 
was reading prayers in my father's family, suddenly 
a voice, or something like a voice, called aloud 
within me, yet so as not to be perceived by any of 
the persons kneeling around me, * You must go 
and be instructed for the ministry.' The voice, or 
whatever it might be, was so exceedingly quick 
and powerful, that it was with difficulty I could pro- 
ceed to the end of the prayer. As soon, however, 
as the prayer was ended, 1 made request to my 
father to let me be trained up for the ministry. I 
told him all I knew of the circumstances ; he, of 
course, denied my request, thinking it was some 
whim I had got into my head, which would go off 
again when I had slept upon it. But the voice, or 
what shall I call it ? gave me no rest night or day 
for three weeks ; when my ever dear, honoured, 
and indulgent Father, gave way to my wishes, and 
put me into a train of study to qualify me for the 
University." To appreciate the importance of this 
singular dispensation, and to decide upon the origin 
and character of the impulse to which it relates, 
we must look to its immediate and happy result. 
The stress that is often laid upon dreams, and 
voices, and visions, and revelations, abstracted from 
every thing salutary or beneficial, can only excite 
our pity or ridicule ; But the cmise } however un- 



MEMOIRS. 



V 



common or unaccountable, that produces effects, 
received as important by the common consent of 
all reasonable men, must engage our silence and 
submission. The circumstance which decided the 
future destination of this young man, was wholly 
free from that temerity and presumption which 
visually accompany the wild conceits of enthusiasts 
and fanatics. The call of which he speaks, was not 
to an instantaneous obtrusion upon the work of the 
ministry, but to a suitable course of preparation 
for that work ; and how assiduously he improved 
the period devoted to this purpose, all who knew 
him, when actually employed in the service of the 
Sanctuary, are ready to bear the most ample testi- 
mony. 

Mr. Simpson was first placed under the classical 
.tuition of the. Rev. Mr. Dawson, of Northallerton, 
with whom he remained twelve months ; after which 
period he went to reside as a pupil with the Rev. 
Mr. Noble, at Scorton, who presided over one of 
the best classical schools in the*country. There he 
remained two years, when he entered into St. John's 
College, Cambridge, and remained there about 
three years. During the first year of his matricula- 
tion, he gave great satisfaction by the regularity of 
his conduct, and his proficiency in learning. Rut 
at the close of that year an event occurred, which 
for some time, in a considerable degree, retarded his 
progress, drew upon him the obloquy of his com- 
panions, and excited such apprehensions in the 
minds of his unenlightened superiors, as frequently 
prevail under similar circumstances. We allude to 
the interesting era of his conversion to God. 

The circumstance which proved subservient to 
the accomplishment of this great and happy change, 
deserves to be particularly remarked. While re- 
siding with his Father, during his first vacation, he 
visited the late Theophilus Lindsey, then in his 
vicarage of Catteriek, who had requested Mr. 

b 2 



MEMOIRS. 



Simpson to spend some time with him at hisr housed 
(If Mr. Lindsey had imbibed , he had not at that 
time broached, his Socinian errors.) Before the ter- 
mination of this visit, Mr. Lindsey, in a spirit which 
reflected so much honour upon that period of his 
ministry, took occasion to inquire of our young 
collegian as to the nature of his studies, and the 
manner in which he employed his time. 

Although engaged in pursuits connected with 
that office, the chief design of which is to explain 
the meaning, and to enforce the importance, of the 
Scriptures, his answer to these seasonable and so- 
lemn inquiries, afforded the mos* melancholy evi- 
dence of his total inattention to that sacred book* 
Mr. Lindsey was much affected by this discovery, 
and, in a very emphatical and pointed manner, 
urged him to turn his immediate and serious atten- 
tion to his impiously neglected bible. 

From this conversation at the vicarage of Cat- 
terick, we date the decisive revolution that took 
place in his sentiments and feelings, and which de- 
termined the character of his future studies, and 
issued in a life of eminent usefulness to the cause 
of evangelical religion. The expostulations of his 
friend came with effectual power to his mind. He 
felt the criminality of his former indifference and 
inattention to the divine writings, and was filled 
with corresponding remorse. The awful concerns 
of eternity so powerfully impressed his mind, that 
all other concerns dwindled into insignificance, and 
were almost wholly forgotten. Till the memorable 
day, when it pleased God thus to illuminate his be- 
nighted understanding, this candidate for the mi- 
nistry had no Bible. The book of God had no 
place in his library. However, he now purchased 
a quarto bible with marginal references, and de- 
voted himself to the study of it with full purpose of 
feeart. From this time biblical knowledge became 
the supreme object of his ambition and delight 



MEMOIRS. 



VH 



he pursued it with that degree of avidity which 
proved the deep sense he entertained of its impor- 
tance to the work before him ; and few have ex- 
celled him, either in the extent of his attainments 
or in the useful application of sacred literature. 
At first, indeed, as he afterwards acknowledged, he 
was rather ashamed that his new bible should be seen 
by his companions, lest he should incur the impu- 
tation of Methodism. But the glories he discovered 
in the doctrines of it, soon raised him above the 
fear of reproach, and inspired him with unshaken 
confidence and courage. — In full assurance of the 
truth of the gospel, and of his personal acceptance 
with God, he soon became settled and happy m 
mind, and longed for the period when he should 
proclaim to others, the salvation he had obtained him- 
self. His supreme affection for the Scriptures he 
had so criminally neglected, before he was renewed 
in the spirit of his mind, is strikingly displayed in 
the following abstract of a letter from him to one of 
his friends : et If a book was professedly to come 
from God to teach mankind his will, what should 
we expect its contents to be ? Should we expect to 
be told the nature and perfections of God ? The 
nature and perfections of God are in the bible alone 
made known. Should we expect to know how all 
things came into being at first ? The bible declares 
it. Should we wish to know what the Lord God re- 
quires of his creatures ? This the bible makes known 
— supreme love. Should we want to know the re- 
ward of obedience? The bible points out eternal 
joys. Would curiosity lead us to inquire the reward 
of disobedience ? The bible reveals extreme, ever- 
lasting misery. Should we inquire, what is our 
duty to each other ? In the bible it is written as with 
a sun-beam — love all men as yourselves. Would we 
know the original of those miseries and disorders we 
observe in the world ; and how a merciful God can 
permit them? The bible points to the cause, and 



viii 



MEMOIRS. 



proclaims death,, and every evil, to be the wages of 
sin. Would we know, whence are those strange 
disorders we each of us feel in our own natures ? 
The bible informs us we are in a state of ruin — we 
are fallen creatures. Would we discover how sin 
is pardoned, our natures restored, and God's per- 
fections glorified ? Though this was hid from ages 
and generations of the heathen, the bible makes it 
clear as the sun — by the death of Christ, and the 
operations of the Spirit. What, then, could we re** 
quire in a book from Go J, that is not to be found 
in the bible ? Secret things, indeed, are therein con- 
cealed ; but essential and useful things are clearly 
revealed. 

View the bible in another light. Do we want 
history? The bible is the most ancient, the most 
concise, the most entertaining, and the most instruc- 
tive history in the world. Do we want poetry ? 
The book of Job is an epic poem, not inferior to 
Homer, Virgil, or Milton. Does the lyric muse 
invite us? The Psalms of David stand foremost in 
the list of fame. Are we in a melancholy mood ? 
Let us read David's lamentation over Saul, and 
Jeremiah's Lamentations. Do we want strains of 
oratory ? The Prophets, and Paul, are yet, amongst 
mortals, unrivalled. In short, the bible is pro- 
fitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for 
instruction in righteousness ; that the man of God 
may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every 
good work." 

The studies of a young man, designated to 
Minister in the Sanctuary of God, should be chosen 
and pursued with an immediate and uniform regard 
to that work. The bible, the first book in impor- 
tance, should, in his setting out, be made the first 
object of his veneration and love. Life is too short, 
time is too precious, to justify the sacrifice of years 
in laborious attention to literary objects, which, 
after all, will not make him a more able minister of 



MEMOIRS. 



that book. All his learning, reading, observation, 
and experience are only valuable as they are cal- 
culated to aid him in the more effectual preaching 
of its glorious doctrines. Under lively impressions 
of these sentiments, Mr. Simpson changed his for- 
mer course, and resolved upon such plans of study 
as he thought best adapted to glorify God, and to 
promote the eternal happiness of men. No longer 
governed by the ambition of shining merely as a 
scholar, he relinquished, or paid less attention to 
some favourite studies, particularly the mathematics, 
and bent his attention to the science of Theology. 
Here he was in his own element, enjoying and re- 
joicing in the ineffable prospects around him, and 
anticipating the day, when in the fulness and bles- 
sing of the gospel, he should go and publish the 
glad tidings of it to the guilty and miserable chil- 
dren of men. He thought every week long, while 
he was detained from the pulpit; and, the divinity 
degree requiring a longer course of study, he 
earnestly requested his tutor for permission to take 
his degree in law, instead of divinity, that he might 
hasten to his delightful purpose. This request, 
however, was denied ; and at length, in the ordi- 
nary course his wishes were gratified, and he went 
forth in the vineyard of his Lord and Master, 
" determined to know nothing among men, save 
Jesus Christ and him crucified." 

He was ordained, on the title of the Rev. Mr* 
Unwin, to the curacy of Ramsden, in the county of 
Essex. There he remained two years, very happy 
in his connection with his vicar, who had been his 
senior fellow student, and in whom, from his first 
religious impressions, he had enjoyed a firm and 
valuable frieud. His removal from this station was 
the subject of much concern among the people to 
whom he was useful, and of surprise to his friends 
in general. Mr. Simpson frankly owned, he could 
give no proper reason for his conduct in this parti- 



X 



MEMOIRS. 



cular, and in the troubles which almost immediately 
followed, he no doubt saw that he had acted too 
precipitately for the subsequent satisfaction and 
peace of his mind. 

It very seldom happens, that the watchmen of 
Zion quit their posts uncalled, or without a pro- 
pter reason, but they are made to feel the sad con- 
sequences of their folly and temerity, perhaps 
throughout their future lives. However, it is pleasing 
to reflect, that the most unadvised and hasty steps 
of men are often overruled by the head of the 
church, for purposes of incalculable good, both to 
themselves, and to the cause of religion : — To 
themselves, in the way of instruction, humiliation 
and spiritual enjoyment; — and to the cause of re- 
ligion, in thus qualifying them for, and making 
them more eminently subservient to the purposes of 
his glory. These remarks were affectingly exem- 
plified in the instance now under review, and which 
on this account deserves particular notice in these 
Memoirs. 

Mr. Simpson removed from his peaceful curacy 
at Ramsden to Buckingham, where he soon found 
himself involved in difficulties and deep distress. 
He commenced his ministerial career, determined 
not to keep back or disguise any gospel truth, how- 
ever unpalatable to the unbeliever, and plainly to 
preach the whole counsel of God, to whatever oppo- 
sition he might thus expose himself. In that da\, 
although a pleasing change had certainly taken 
place, there were still but few evangelical preachers 
in the established church. An animated extempo- 
raneous clergyman preaching salvation by the grace 
of God, was, in most country places, a novel cha- 
racter ; and was sure to be viewed and watched, with 
a malignant eye, by his unregenerate and dissipa- 
ted brethren, who not unfrequently employed their 
power, or their influence, to exclude them from 
iheir churches, Their appeals to their clerical re- 



TV1EM0IRS. 



gularity, and to the doctrinal articles of the church, 
were either not heard, or were answered with in- 
sulting charges of hypocrisy, and secret designs to 
subvert the foundations of the spiritual hierarchy. 
With the holy zeal which so eminently distinguished 
the character of our young Divine, it was not pro* 
bable he should long escape the operations of this 
malignant spirit. Who were the chief actors in the 
scenes of opposition, exhibited at Buckingham, is a 
question of no importance. That it was, however, 
of a very serious nature is certain, as it required the 
interposition of his Diocesan, and terminated in his 
removal ; and it is equally certain, that the close of 
it- was such, as left him in full possession of a pure 
conscience and a fair reputation ; for the bishop, 
after hearing all the particulars of the case, is known 
to have made this observation, so highly honourable 
to both : — " Mr. Simpson, if you are determined to 
do your duty as a clergyman ought to do, you must 
every where expect to meet with opposition*" 

While at Cambridge, he formed a close intimacy 
with Mr. Robert Robinson, a celebrated dissenting 
minister of that place ; a man of extraordinary 
genius, knowledge, and eloquence ; but who, after 
having maintained for many years a decided at- 
tachment to evangelical doctrines, and even after 
having published an excellent defence of the Re- 
deemer's deity, became inflated with the pride of 
philosophical speculations, and is supposed to have 
died a Socinian. He preached his last sermon in 
Dr. Priestley's pulpit, at Birmingham; on which 
occasion, it was said, he uttered some expressions 
against his former sentiments, peculiarly decisive of 
the awful revolution that had taken place in his 
mind and a few mornings afterwards he was found 
dead in his bed, at the house of one of the Doctor's 
friends, in the neighbourhood of that town. No 
man was better qualified than Mr. Robinson, or 
more pleased in his happier days, with opportunities 



xii 



MEMOIRS. 



to make himself useful to young men of piety and 
promise, looking to the work of the ministry. — 
Of this, it appears, Mr. Simpson was duly sen- 
sible, as he neglected not to a\ail himself of the 
counsel and information his friend was always ready 
to communicate; and would afterwards speak of 
this friendship as the most valuable social advan- 
tage of his college life. After he left Cambridge, 
they kept up a correspondence for some time, pro- 
bably as long as the former continued in the same 
faith and spirit as those, under the divine influence 
of which, the latter lived and died. Mr. Simpson 
has often repeated among his friends, the first sen- 
tence of a letter he received from Mr. Robinson, 
immediately after his ordination. The sentence was 
this: — " Now, young man, you must cry a sale of 
character." This sentiment, so enigmatically ex- 
pressed, was, however, clearly explained to him by 
the trying events which occurred at Buckingham. 

By the invitation of Charles Roe, Esq. on leav- 
ing Buckingham, he accepted a residence with that 
gentleman at Macclesfield ; and soon after his 
arrival there, became curate of the Old Church, 
at that time the only church in the town. He 
had not been long in this situation, before he 
married Miss Waidy, of Yarm, a young lady 
of distinguished excellence and piety ; but who was 
spared to him only for the short period of fifteen 
months. She died on the 1 4th of September, 1774, 
leaving a daughter, who afterwards became the wife 
of Mr. Lee, a respectable attorney, at Wem, in 
Shropshire, and who is still living. This bereave- 
ment was a heavy affliction ; but, amidst all the 
ardour of the affection he cherished for the memory 
of Mrs. Simpson, he humbly submitted to the will 
of unerring wisdom and immutable love, and was 
supremely concerned, that the melancholy event 
might be sanctified to his own spiritual improve- 
ment and .usefulness in the church of God. 



MEMOIRS. 



xiii 



Mr. Simpson had not been long in his curacy, 
before that plainness and faithfulness in preaching, 
which had excited such inveterate hostility against 
him in Buckinghamshire, produced the same spirit, 
and a repetition of the same trials, at Macclesfield. 
His enemies there, were the enemies of the gospel, 
and enemies to him only on that account. Had his 
preaching accorded with their corrupt views of re- 
ligion ; had his preaching and practice proved con- 
genial with their worldly character, a man of such 
talents, so amiable a man in temper and manners, 
must have been hailed by them as their favourite 
preacher and excellent friend. But despising and 
rejecting that way of salvation, which so illustriously 
displays the sovereignty and holiness of God, how 
could they receive and honour him, whose every 
sermon bore testimony against the pride of Phari- 
saism, and the licentiousness of the un regenerate 
heart? His adversaries were active, determined, 
united, and, as they thought, successful. They 
made application to the bishop of the diocese, 
(Chester) for his removal, and he was immediately 
silenced ; his Lordship being as determined as the 
applicants, to exert himself, as far as his jurisdiction 
extended, in crushing the Hydra of Methodism in 
the national church. 

In future years it will be considered as a most 
extraordinary circumstance in the annals of British 
Ecclesiastical history, that so many of the clergy 
should have encountered the bitterest opposition for 
no other crime, than that of preaching the doctrines 
of those very articles, without subscribing to which, 
ex animo, they could not have been admitted to 
episcopal ordination. This was the only crime for 
which Mr. Simpson had been persecuted from two 
curacies, and in the last instance, by the imperious 
mandate of metropolitan authority. " But the 
things which happened unto him, terminated in the 
furtherance of the gospel." The machinations. 



MEMOIRS. 



and triumphs of Lis adversaries were presently 
blasted, and, with extreme vexation, they beheld 
the object of their base and barbarous prejudices, 
raised by the over-ruling Providence of heaven, to 
one of the first stations of respectability and use- 
fulness upon earth. 

How long he remained under suspension, we are 
not informed. However, we know he was not 
idle ; that such was his zeal for the glory of God, and 
compassion for the souls of men, that hecould find no 
rest but in his wonted ministerial labours. During that 
period, he made frequent excursions into the unen- 
lightened parts of the neighbouring country ; preach« 
ing in private houses, and wherever he saw the 
door of usefulness thrown open. This practice he 
continued occasionally afterwards as long as he 
was able, and it was attended with such evident ef- 
fects, in the conversion of sinners from the error of 
their ways, that, to the end of his ministry, he con- 
sidered these itinerant labours as the most successful 
of his whole life. When remarking upon this sub- 
ject to a friend, that his health would no longer 
permit him to follow the same plan, the methodist 
preachers, he said, are now generally received, and 
societies are formed in those villages ; so that I do 
not see the same necessity now as before. 

The prime curacy of the church, at this critical 
juncture, became vacant, the nomination to which 
resides with the mayor, pro tempore. The mayor, 
Mr. Gould, at that time was Mr. Simpson's friend 
and immediately made him the offer of it, and his 
offer was readily accepted ; but, to prevent his induc- 
tion, every effort was exerted which could be de- 
vised. A petition was preferred against him to the 
bishop, in which the malicious ingenuity of his 
adversaries magnified his offence into seventeen dis- 
tinct heads; though the candour of the then Bishop 
of Chester, who was happily of a different character 
id his immediate predecessor, by whom Mr. Simp- 



Memoirs, 



XT 



son was removed, reduced them all into one 
this was, that he was a Methodist, or that his 
preaching greatly tended to increase the number of 
Methodists. Under this charge, he acted with 
Christian heroism. In a letter he wrote to the bishop, 
in his own vindication, he thus expressed himself. 
" This" (alluding to the latter part of the charge 
of Methodism) " is true. My methqd is to preach the 
great truths, and doctrines, and precepts of the gospel, 
in as plain, and earnest, and affectionate a manner as? 
1 am able. Persons of different ranks, persuasions, 
and characters, come to hear. Some hereby have been 
convinced of the error of their ways, see their guilt, 
and the danger they are in, and become seriously 
concerned about their salvation. The change is 
soon discovered ; they meet with one or another who 
invites them to attend the preachings and meetings 
among the Methodists, and hence their number is 
increased to a considerable degree. This is the 
truth. I own the fact ; T have often thought of it 5 
but I confess myself unequal to the difficulty. What 
would your Lordship ad\ise ?" Nothing could ex- 
ceed the dignified firmness and propriety of his con- 
duct during this trying conflict. On the part of his 
opponents, all was slander and reproach ; treachery, 
violence, and rage ; on his part all was forbearance, 
ingenuousness, kindness, and meekness. Before 
this contest came to an issue, his kind friend, Mr. 
Roe, voluntarily offered to build him a church in 
another part of the town ; to this he was induced in 
compliance with a vow he had made in his youth, 
that if he should be successful in business (which he 
had then been to a considerable degree) he would 
build a church, as a token of his gratitude to God. 
Mr. Simpson accepted the offer, not wishing, as he 
himself expressed it, to preach to a people who 
hated him, and immediately made a proposal, which 
his opponents themselves admitted to be generous ; 
namely, that if terms, agreeable to the respective 



xvi 



MEMOIRS* 



parties could be adjusted in regard to the consecra- 
tion of the new church, and he could be legally 
secured in it as Incumbent, he would resign the 
prime curacy of the old church. The proposal was 
agreed to; the new church, an elegant and beauti- 
ful structure, was erected and consecrated ; Mr. 
Simpson was inducted to it, he resigned the curacy, 
and was afterwards permitted to continue his mini- 
strations without interruption. Thus this excellent 
man at last found rest from an infuriate cabal, 
who endeavoured to justify their shameful conduct 
towards him by their pretended zeal for the safety 
and interests of the church. These circumstances, 
so dishonourable and dangerous ta the church, ap- 
pear to have made impressions upon his mind, 
that terminated in a resolution to dissent. He saw 
the spirit of error, impiety, and persecution in her 
clergy, preying upon her vitals, and hastening her 
dissolution ; and was convinced, that those among 
her advocates were her worst adversaries, who were 
most voluble in boasting of her excellencies, while 
wilfully blind to all her defects and blemishes ; and 
who, while lamenting the increase of dissenters, and 
methodists, would banish and stigmatize the only 
men qualified to defend her outworks and promote 
her internal welfare. But his own words will best 
convey the truths which every faithful clergyman, 
and every good man in the established church, must 
seriously lament, and long to reverse. 

We, of the English establishment too, says Mr. 
Simpson, have so long boasted of the excellence of 
our church; congratulated ourselves so frequently 
upon our happy condition ; paid ourselves so many 
fine compliments upon the unparalleled purity of 
our hierarchy ; that a stranger would be led to con- 
clude, to be sure we must be the holiest^ happiest, 
and most flourishing church upon the face of the 
earth : Whereas, when you go into our most stately 
and magnificent cathedrals, and other sacred 



MEMOIRS. 



edifices, you find them almost empty and forsaken. 
At best all is deadness and lukewarmness both 
with priest and people. In various instances, there 
is little more appearance of devotion, than in a 
Jew's synagogue. Go where you will through the 
kingdom, one or the other of these is very generally 
the case, except where the officiating Clergyman is 
strictly moral in his conduct, serious, earnest, and 
lively in his manner, and evangelical in his doc- 
trines. Where this, however, happens to be so, the 
stigma of Methodism is almost universally affixed to 
his character, and his name is had for a proverb of 
reproach, in proportion to his zeal and usefulness, 
by the sceptics and infidels all around, in which they 
are frequently joined by the rich, the fashionable, 
and the gay, with the Bishop and the Clergy at their 
head. 

In the above statement of facts there is no exag- 
geration. Mr. Simpson was an eye-witness of the 
evils he deplored, and a great personal sufferer by 
their prevalence. But whatever reason he had to 
complain of his hard usage from men who are the 
bane of every church, he had still more reason to be 
satisfied and happy in the infallible wisdom, and 
the overruling providence of God. For from the 
time he commenced his labours in his new church, 
a church built ^persecution, his ministry was at* 
tended with one continued flow of success. A great 
congregation was collected, numbers were brought 
to the knowledge of salvation, and christians were 
united and established in the faith and hope of the 
gospel. This was the brightest period of his life ; 
and he improved and enjoyed it as such. Every 
day he became more zealous and laborious, and 
was honoured with a proportionate increase of use- 
fulness. Preaching, and writing, and visiting his 
people, kept him incessantly employed, and were 
pursued as his most delightful recreations. 

Nor did he covet, what an inspired apostle de- 



xviii 



MEMOIRS* 



nominates,'" filthy lucre," for with a small income he 
enjoyed abundance of happiness. Speaking of the 
enormous emoluments of many of the clergy, in his 
w Plea for Religion," he says, If I might be permitted 
to speak from my own feelings, I can truly say I never 
took more pains in the ministry, than when I had 
only sixty pounds a year. Since I have been mar- 
ried and had a family, my income from the church 
has never amounted to a hundred and twenty 
pounds a year. Notwithstanding this, I have been, 
thank God, not only content, but happy. I have 
laboured hard, studied hard, and, probably, have 
been as useful, and well satisfied with my condition, 
as the richest rector in all the diocese of Chester. 
If any person, in the mean time, had bestowed upon 
me a living of five hundred or a thousand pounds a 
year, to be sure I should have been under great ob- 
ligation to such person, but I very much question 
whether 1 should have been made either a more 
happy man, or a more useful minister of the 
Gospel. 

After his church was opened for public worship, 
he established a weekly lecture, which was continued 
for some time, and was afterwards succeeded by a 
course of lectures in his school-room, on the Pil- 
grim's Progress. On the fourteenth of September, 
1777, as is related by one of his friends, who was a 
witness of the scene, a smart shock of anearrhquake 
was felt at Macclesfield, which extended itself 
through a circuit of more than three hundred miles. 
This was during the time of divine service, about 
eleven o'clock. The steeple of the church, an un- 
commonly high tower, had been recently finished, 
and the alarm excited in the congregation, was uni- 
versally connected with a notion that the tower was 
falling ; in consequence of which, the people all 
fled to the doors opposite to that end of the build- 
ing where they supposed the greatest danger. The 
effect was awfully alarming ; the entrances became 



MEMOIRS. 



xix 



instantly blocked up with persons thrown down, 
one upon another, so as to prevent any from get- 
ting out : this, added to the confused cries and panic 
^ fears of so great a number of persons, produced, for 
a time, a scene, which, for confusion and distress^ 
may be more easily conceived than described. Mr. 
Simpson, alone, seemed to stand the shock with for- 
titude ; he remained at the communion table, where 
he was when it first began, in calm possession of 
himself, and continued there until it was nearly 
subsided. On this occasion, no life was lost, but 
considerable injury was sustained from fractures 
and contusions : the event was, however, attended 
with some good effects ; many were so alarmed with 
the awful circumstances of their situation, and 
so impressed by their deliverance from such im- 
minent danger, that from that time a serious con- 
cern was produced for the salvation of their souls. 

In the year 1778, he instituted a female friendly 
society, a thing without precedent at that time ; 
this was a favourite object of his care ever after, and 
in its first establishment he engaged some respecta- 
ble ladies to qualify themselves as honorary mem- 
bers. This society was succeeded by two other simi- 
lar institutions. Many will long remember, with 
what zeal he watched over these concerns, and what 
pious pains he employed, upon the return of their 
anniversary sermons, in inculcating upon the mem- 
bers, a diligent regard to all those duties which 
more particularly adorn and elevate the female 
character, both in the higher and humbler walks of 
life. 

The establishment of charity schools was one of 
his most early efforts. The children were collected 
for instruction on the week-day e veni ^s ; and on the 
sabbath were accompanied to church by their teachers. 
For several years he had the sole management of 
these schools himself ; but afterwards, a design be- 



XX 



MEMOIRS. 



ing proposed to make the institutions more general, 
he readily consented to give up his schools to a 
committee of gentlemen of the town, only stipu- 
lating, that they should be regularly taken to church 
every Sunday, and allowed to be instructed in wri- 
ting. A sermon was afterwards preached at each 
church every year, for the support of the whole ; 
about four or five hundred was the number in- 
structed. It was in the year 1794, that the manage- 
ment of these schools appeared to him, in some res- 
pects, not so efficient as might be wished ; a number 
of persons were then called in, to act as visitors, to 
inspect them every Lord's day, and to make their re- 
port once a month. This in a short time prepared 
the way for a new establishment ; and in 1796, a 
school was opened for the instruction of children on 
the sabbath only, to be carried on solely by gratuitous 
teachers. This school still exists, and provides for 
the education of more than 2000 young people. 

For several years he accepted of an invitation 
from the late Rev. Dr. Bayley, of St. James's Church, 
Manchester, to preach there on several days of 
the race- week* He was there received with much 
acceptance, and attended by overflowing congrega- 
tions of attentive hearers, many of whom will have 
reason to bless God, in a future world, for the good 
effects of these occasional labours 

About the year 1781, he opened a school for 
young people of both sexes, and took upon himself 
the principal share of the labour. He had at one 
time more than 160 scholars, and during the winter 
months they were at their books an hour or two in 
the morning by candle-light. He regretted,' when 
speaking of this period of his life, that his early 
discipline was too severe. But his method of illus- 
tration in the readings, which formed a part of his 
school exercises, was always so engaging, that they 
generally sat down to that exercise, as the most 
agreeable relaxation. 



MEMOIRS. 



xxi 



When the new Sunday school was established, 
he attended, as well as his curate, once a month, to 
catechise and instruct the elder scholars : this had 
not been long continued before considerable num- 
bers of strangers wished to attend at the same time ; 
and as he perceived that the throng was inconve- 
nient, but yet regarding the eager disposition to hear 
as a favourable indication, and, no doubt, recol- 
lecting the success of his endeavours many years be- 
fore, he proposed to give an explanation of the Pil- 
grim's Progress, every Wednesday evening, in the 
same place. This was accordingly undertaken ; but 
was unhappily followed with a most severe and 
painful catastrophe. The room employed, which 
was an upper one, became so full at the end nearest 
the door, on the first evening, that one of the beams 
gave way, and precipitated a considerable number 
of the audience to the bottom : dreadful was the 
confusion, and most afflicting the consequences. — 
One young woman survived only a few hours, and 
many others were miserably fractured. Every at- 
tention was paid to the sufferers, and a liberal sub- 
scription was made, which provided them with me- 
dical and other relief until their recovery. This, as 
may easily be supposed, was a most heavy affliction ; 
but, satisfied that his object was good, he determined 
to pursue it; and accordingly very soon recom- 
menced his labours on the ground floor, though 
more incommodious than the other, to very serious 
and crowded assemblies, for nine months, until a 
paralytic attack, more than ordinarily severe, put 
a final period to these labours, the year preceding 
his death. 

That his reading was extensive, solid, and well 
applied, must be obvious to all who knew him, and 
to all who have become acquainted with his various 
-publications. We have few instances of a minister 
of so numerous a congregation, with six or seven 
hundred monthly communicants, requiring so much 

c2 



xxii 



MEMOIRS. 



personal attention, and, added to all, a classical 
school of his own, writing and publishing so much 
as he did. His knowledge of physic and law, 
which he had taken great pains to acquire, were 
made subservient to the health and interests of his 
people ; and he most scrupulously guarded against 
every thing in each of these sciences, of which he 
could not unpresumptuously call himself master. — 
In short, he was the oracle, friend, physician, law- 
yer, and patron of the poor, on all occasions : and 
what contributed most eminently to his usefulness 
among them, was the gentleness and urbanity of 
his manners, which rendered him accessible and 
interesting to all who approached him. 

His Catholicism embraced all denominations of 
Christians who love our Lord Jesus Christ. But 
with the adversaries of his deity and atonement he 
formed no friendship ; with them he would hold no 
communion. The doctrine that sinks eternal Power 
and Godhead to a level with infirm humanity, he 
considered as subversive of the whole scheme of 
chnstianity, and as fraught with incalculable mis- 
chief to the general interests of religion and mora- 
lity. He saw no medium between the blasphemy 
that treats the Deity as a creature, and the idolatry 
that worships the creature as a deity : and in con- 
templating these opposite and distant points, to 
which the advocates and the adversaries of the divi- 
nity and atonement of Christ uniformly diverged, 
he maintained the impossibility of their meeting 
each other as Christimts. But while he was thus 
decided, from the deliberate reflection and deep 
convictions of his own mind, he was no persecuting 
bigot. It was an indubitable principle with him, 
as indeed it must be with every one, who impartially 
attends to the dictates of scripture and of reason, — 
that man is amenable to none but God for his reli- 
gious opinions ; that the assumed right to tolerate 
his opinions and worship, is inconsistent with the 



MEMOIRS. 



xxiii 



very nature of the gospel, and a presumptuous in- 
fringement upon the prerogatives of the Lord of 
conscience. 

In discussing the subject of toleration, Mr* 
Simpson asks, " Have not I as much right to con- 
trol you in your religious concerns, as you have to 
control me ? To talk of tolerating, implies an aw- 
thority over me, where I ought to think and act for 
myself. Yet who but Christ, the Head of the church, 
has any such authority ? He is a tyrant, a very 
pope, who pretends to any such thing. These mat- 
ters will be better understood by and by. And it 
does not appear to many, that we ever can be a 
thoroughly united and happy people, till every 
good subject enjoys equal civil privileges, without 
any regard to religious sects and opinions. If a 
man is a peaceable, industrious, moral, and reli- 
gious person, and an obedient subject to the civil 
government under which he lives, let his religious 
views of things be what they may, he seems to have 
a just claim to the enjoyment of every office, privi- 
lege, and emolument of that government. Equal 
and impartial liberty, equal privileges and emolu- 
ments, are, or should be, the birth-right of every 
member of civil society, and would be the glory of 
any government to bestow upon all its serious, reli- 
gious, and morally acting citizens, without any re- 
gard to the sect or party to which they belong. — 
This, it should seem, would make us a united and 
happy people." May these manly and liberal sen- 
timents ever accompany a profession of faith in him, 
who is revealed and exalted to be the Saviour and 
King of the Church ! 

We now come to the most extraordinary circum- 
stance of Mr. Simpson's clerical life. He had long 
meditated the design of quitting the established 
church, and of casting in his lot among the dissen- 
ters. The reasons of this step were doubtless such 
as satisfied his own mind of the propriety and ne- 



xxiv 



MEMOIRS. 



cessity of it : but as it is not the design of this me- 
moir to introduce questions of dispute between church- 
men and dissenters, the writer passes over the reasons 
Mr. Simpson assigned for his conduct, and con- 
fines himself to portray the feelings of his heart, 
with reference to this memorable crisis, from his own 
language : " I now renounce a situation, which, 
in some respects, has been extremely eligible. I 
cast myself again upon the bosom of a gracious pro* 
vidence, which has provided for me all my life 
long. Hitherto, I must say, the Lord hath helped 
me. I have never wanted any manner of thing 
that has beeu necessary to my comfort. And, though 
I neither know what to do nor whither to go, yet 

' The world is all before me, where to choose 
' My place of rest, and Providence my guide.* 

This extraordinary step the sacred dictates of con- 
science compel me to take. I am truly sorry for it. 
To me few trials were ever equal. I have loved the 
people among whom I have so long lived and la- 
boured. And I have every reason to be satisfied 
with their conduct towards me. Neither hath the 
great Head of the church left us without seals to 
our ministry. The appearance of fruit, at times, 
has been large; and there are some, no doubt, 
among the people of our charge, who will be our 
joy and crown in the great day of the Redeemer's 
coming. My friends must consider me as called 
away by an imperious Providence ; and, I trust, 
they will be provided with a Successor more than 
equal, in every respect, to their late affectionate 
pastor. I think it necessary to say in this place, 
that the doctrines I have preached unto them for 
six and twenty years, Istiil consider as the truths of 
God. I have lived in them myself, and found com- 
fort from them ; I have faithfully made them known 
to others* as thousands can bear me a witness ; we 



MEMOIRS'. 



have seen them effectual to the pulling down the 
strong holds of sin and Satan, in a variety of cases; 
and I hope to die in the same faith, and to find 
them the power of God unto the salvation of my 
own soul, in eternal glory, by Christ Jesus. I mean 
to preach the same doctrines, the Lord being my 
helper, during the whole remainder of my life, 
wheresoever my lot may be east, I am not weary 
of the work of the sacred ministry. I have, in- 
deed, often been weary in it, but never of it. I 
pray God my spiritual vigour, life, and power, and 
love, and usefulness may abound more and more 
to the end of my Christian warfare*." 

Speaking of his attachment to his Macclesfield, 
connections, and the painful emotions be expe- 
rienced in the thought of his separation from them, 
he says, I prefer my present situation to most 
others I know of in England. If I had been dis- 
posed to leave it, I have not been without oppor- 
tunity. Twenty years ago, the late John Thornton,-: 
Esq. of Clapham, near London, voluntarily offered 
to procure me better preferment, if I would accept , 
of it ; but 1 told him, after expressing my gratitude, 
that Divine Providence seemed to have placed me 
where I was, and i could not think of quitting my 
station, merely for the sake of a betiei living, till 
the time came that the same Providence should call 
me away. That time seems to be now come ; 
since I cannot any longer keep my church and re- 
tain my honour, in obeying the dictates of conscience. 
In my opinion, this is a providential call to quit my 
station, though I never expect to be so happily cir- 
cumstanced again. I know well what pain such a 
determination will give my dear people ; but, with 
all due regard to the feelings of my friends, I run t 
consider, that I am amenable, in the first place, to 
the great Head of the Church, for my conduct, and 
must, oil the highest considerations, endeavour to 



* Plea for Beligioii, p. 140, 141, 



xxvi 



MEMOIRS. 



conduct myself agreeably to his pleasure. After a 
thousand defects, both in my public ministrations 
and private conduct, I can almost say, I have done 
my best to promote as well the temporal as spiritual 
interests of the town of Macclesfield ; and I heartily 
wish my Successor may be more acceptable, more 
heavenly-minded, more laborious, more useful, and 
more successful, in winning souls to Christ*." 

Mr. Simpson thus concludes his account of his 
feelings, in the contemplation of this momentous 
change. " My judgment has not been biassed by 
interest, by connections, by inclination, or by any 
human considerations whatever. 1 have thought 
much upon the subject ; read on both sides of the ques- 
tion whatever has fallen in my way ; conversed with 
various persons for the sake of information ; suf- 
fered the matter to rest upon my mind for some 
years undetermined ; have never made my fears, 
suspicions, and dissatisfaction known to any man ; 
and now, when I bring near to myself the thought 
of quitting one of the most commodious churches in 
the kingdom, erected on purpose for my own mini- 
strations ; leaving interred by it many a precious 
deposit, who will, I trust, be my joy and crown, in 
the great day of the Lord Jesus, besides a mother, 
a wife, two children, and a sister; and giving up 
various kind friends, whom I love as my own soul, 
together with a large body of people, that, if it were 
possible, would have plucked out their own eyes, 
and given them to me: — What shall 1 say? — All 
that is affectionate within me recoils. I am torn 
with conflicting passions ; and am ready to say with 
the Apostle, I could wish that myself were accursed 
from Christ for my friends and brethren, whom I 
love in the bowels of Jesus Christ. 

But, then, various passages of Scripture urge 
on me the most imperious considerations, to re- 
nounce a situation, which I cannot any longer re- 

* Plea for Religion, p. 343* 



MEMOIRS. 



xxvii 



tain with peace of mind*." But how mysterious are 
the ways of Providence ! About twelve hours before 
he was to have preached his farewel sermon, the 
supreme Arbiter of the world called him to join 
the church triumphant! Amidst the conflicts which 
agitated his mind as to his episcopal connections, 
and only a few days before the dissolution of his 
connection with the world, he was called to a se- 
vere trial in the death of his second wife. They 
were married in October, 1776, and had three 
children, one of whom died in infancy, and the el- 
dest surviving, a daughter, died after a lingering 
illness, a few months before her parents, giving good 
evidence of her personal interest in the salvation of 
the gospel. On this occasion, Mr. Simpson wrote the 
following interesting letter to his brother: — 

My Dear Brother, 

I have now to inform you, that my clear Betsy 
took her leave of mortal things on the 25th of last 
month, at eight o'clock in the evening, after a 
severe affliction of five months, during the whole 
of which time, she was patient and resigned, beyond 
what I have almost ever seen or known. Towards 
the latter part of her illness, however, she was much 
more than resigned ; she was ail on the stretch for 
mercy and salvation. You may be sure it has been 
a severe trial to her mother and myself, and the 
more so, as we are now left childless at home, and 
as she was the only daughter of her mother. — 
It has been a time of much fatigue to Mrs. 
Simpson, because she scarcely ever could be pre- 
vailed upon to leave our poor dear child by day, 
and never by night, for all the five months. She is 
however pretty well, thank God, and bears our loss 
with remarkable fortitude and firmness of mind. 
Indeed we have much reason to be both resigned 

* Plea for Religion, p. 350. 



xxviii 



MEMOIRS. 



and thankful, because we have no reason to sorrow 
as those who have no hope. 

I am, m'y dear Brother, 

Your's affectionately, 

D. S. 

Mrs. Simpson's attentions to her daughter were 
so assiduous and unremitted, that they very mate- 
rially shook her own constitution. A change of air 
was tried, but without effect. She gradually became 
worse and worse, till she was unable to move out; 
and at length her dissolution appeared to be fast 
approaching. On the 27th of February, 1799, a 
physician was called in, who pronounced her com- 
plaint, a fever of a dangerous nature. On hearing 
this she said, " God is faithful, and has promised ne- 
ver to forsake them that trust in him :" and from that 
time she gave up all desire of life, and requested no- 
thing of a worldly nature might be mentioned to her. 
She saw that her time was short, and felt the impor- 
tance of an habitual and actual readiness for the de- 
cisive hour of her approaching dissolution. On the 7th 
of March, she was peculiarly exercised in mind, with 
harassing temptations from the powers of darkness, 
and, under the influence of these temptations, she 
was hurried to the gloomy regions of despondency, 
and refused to be comforted ; saying, she had 
deceived herself, that she had been in a deep sleep 
all her life, and was but just awakened to a sense 
of her misery. But, the next morning, in answer 
to her fervent and importunate prayers, the conso- 
lations of her Saviour's love were shed abroad in 
her heart, and she was restored to the joyful assu- 
rance of her right and title to the inheritance of the 
saints in light. From that time, although her bodily 
sufferings increased, the tempter obtained no further 
advantage over her. On the I0th of March, she 



MEMOIRS. 



xxix 



was collected and happy, and spent the whole day 
in prayer. At the close of the day she repeated the 
following lines with peculiar ardour :- 

Give me a place at thy saints' feet, 
Or some fall'n angel's vacant seat; 
I'll strive to sing as loud as they, 
Who sit above in brighter day. 

From the 10th to the 13th of March, she was very 
delirious; but, on the morning, of that day she was 
blessed with returning reason, and, though in the 
agonies of death, spent her few remaining hours in 
prayer and praise. At' six o'clock, she fell into a 
deep sleep, from which, at the close of the hour, 
she awoke in a blessed eternity. 

While Mrs. Simpson was in the state of affliction 
above described, and two days before her departure, 
Mr. Simpson addressed the subjoined affecting let- 
ter to his son David, now of Bishopsgate Street, 
London : 

My Dear Son, 

Your Mother and I have both been confined, to 
our beds for above a fortnight. I can hardly tell 
you what my complaint is, but I am brought very 
low. Your Mother's complaint is a fever of the 
most dreadful kind. Her fate must be decided for 
life or death in two or three days. I would not 
have you come over, till you hear from me again, 
which shall be by to-morrow's post, God willing. 
If you were upon the spot you could have no com- 
munication with her, nor even be permitted to see 
her, as she is generally delirious. The Lord bless 
'you, my dear son : you shall hear again to-morrow. 

Your affectionate, 

But deeply afflicted Father, 

DAVID SIMPSON. 



XXX 



MEMOIRS. 



Not many days after Mrs. Simpson was confined, 
Mr. Simpson himself was taken ill, and complained 
of a hectic cough, accompanied with a slow fever, 
which, daily increasing, at length brought him to 
the house appointed for all liv ing. But he was not 
unprepared for the event. AH his affairs had been 
settled and wound up by the predisposition of a 
gracious Providence. The paralytic affections, with 
which he had been for some time afflicted, now re- 
turned so frequently, and had so much impaired 
his health, that, as he himself expressed it, his 
work as a minister appeared to be done. As a 
writer, he had just finished his last intended publi- 
cation. He had brought to a close the numerous 
executorships in which he had been engaged, with 
only one exception of inconsiderable moment. His 
wife and younger daughter had been just removed 
to a better world ; his elder daughter had shortly 
before been married ; and his son was happily fixed 
in a situation very congenial to his wishes. 

But, in other respects, his situation was affecting 
in the extreme. Mrs. Simpson lay in the helpless and 
dangerous condition we have described, in an adjoin- 
ing room, while he was unable to afford her the least 
consolation by his presence. He had, nevertheless, 
the satisfaction of hearing, that as she approached her 
last hour, her confidence in God increased ; and, 
finally, that she closed an useful and exemplary 
life, rejoicing in the God of her salvation. At this 
painful juncture, he felt acutely ; but his expres- 
sions evidenced the most perfect submission to the 
will of God. The religion which he had so many 
years zealously and successfully propagated, was his 
support. He said, " All is well. — All will be well. 
These dispensations of God are right and just, I 
have every reason to praise him." After he had 
taken finally to his bed, he was quite calm and 
happy, excepting that now and then he discovered 
some anxiety for Mrs. Simpson. " God" said he, 



MEMOIRS. 



xxxi 



fct is going to close up the scene at once, and end 
our lives and our labours together. It is an awful 
providence, but it is the will of God." 

On Saturday the 16th, on being asked how he 
was, he replied, u very poorly." A hope being 
expressed that he would get better, he said, " No, 
I shall never get better in this life. I have no de- 
sire to come back to life. Our work is done. We 
leave the great scene of things now passing in the 
world to you. Why should I wish to live ?" That 
excellent hvmn, which has so often brought comfort 
to the afflicted, was then read to him : 

" Jesus, lover of my soul, 
Let me to thy bosom fly/' &c. 

When he appeared much affected with the verse 
beginning, " Other refuge have I none," &c. and 
said, it was very true of himself, and that he was a 
poor creature. The next day he desired a friend to 
read to him, saying, " 1 want some comfortable 
portion from the blessed scriptures ; all human 
supports now fail me. Read some comfortable por- 
tion." That text w as then repeated to him, " W hen 
my flesh and my heart fail me, God is the strength 
of my heart, and my portion for ever. ? ' He said 
" That, and other comfortable passages, frequently 
occur to my mind, and support me." He afterwards 
said, " I consider all my eternal concerns as settled. 
AH my dependence rests upon the great atone- 
ment. I have committed all my concerns into the 
hands of my Redeemer." He then called to the 
person who attended him : " Peter," said he, " tell 
the people I am not dying as a man without hope ;" 
and expressed his strong assurance of the happi- 
ness, that awaited him, and a desire to depart. In 
the evening he said, " This is a very serious dis- 
pensation. It appears severe, very severe; first the 
shepherdess is taken away, and then the shepherd, 



xxxii 



MEMOIRS. 



and both as by one stroke. But I am perfectly 
satisfied respecting it ; and I know that this light 
affliction, which is but for a moment, shall work 
out for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight 
of glory." 

His fever continued to increase, and his re- 
covery became extremely doubtful. E\ery one but 
himself was, beyond expression, anxious for his life. 
Prayer meetings were appointed, and numerously 
attended. Many strong cries and tears were offered 
up ; but the decree was gone forth. The supplica- 
tions of the flock could not prevail for the recovery 
of the pastor. The approach of an enemy, which 
every one around him dreaded, he hailed with com- 
posure and joy. One day, after a severe fit of 
coughing, he said to his attendant, " The \^ay 
seems hard, but it is the way the children of God 
all go ; and I do not wish to be exempted from it. 
I know that my Redeemer liveth. I feel him pre- 
cious. He supports me under all. O that I was 
able to express all I feel." The doctor coming in 
soon afterwards, asked him, how he was ? He re- 
plied, "partly here, and partly elsewhere." Another 
day he said to the person who attended him, " How 
awful a thing it is for a man to be brought to his 
dying bed, and to have no hope beyond the grave. 
It is truly awful — but, blessed be God, this is not 
my case." 

On Tuesday morning, March 19th, he gave his 
most affectionate blessing to his son. " I hope," 
said he, " the Lord will bless you when I am 
gone. I trust he will ; and I commend you to the 
word of his grace, which is able to build you up, 
and to give you an inheritance among all them 
which are sanctified. The Lord bless you — the 
Lord bless you." 

As his strength declined apace, he was soon unfit 
to see any of his friends but his immediate attendants, 
who had now given up all hope of his recovery. The 



MEMOIRS. 



xxxiii 



violence of the fever acting on his enfeebled system, 
had left only the ruins of what he had been ; but 
they were the ruins of a noble mind. spoke 
much of the glories of heaven, and the happiness of 
separate spirits ; of their robes of righteousness^ 
and their palms of victory ; then, breathing his ar- 
dent wishes for the happiness of all who were pre- 
sent, he added, " Pardon, peace, and everlastii g 
felicity, are desirable things." At length the ihread 
of life was spun out, and, after a day of appa- 
rent suffering, on Saturday, the 24th of March, 
1799, he fell asleep in Jesus, a little after midnight, 
and spent his sabbath in the regions of bliss. Thus, 
after an active and laborious life, of which twenty- 
six years were spent in the town of Maccie tfeH, 
this eminent servant of Christ finished his course, 
and went to receive his reward. In the new church 
at Macclesfield, is a very handsome monument 
erected, with an inscription as follows : — 

Sacred to the memory 
Of the Rev. David Simpson, M. A. 
The first minister of this clinch, 
Who, after 26 years of laborious and uninterrupted 

service, 

Departed this life, March 24, 1799, aged 54. 

As a preacher of the gospel, 
He was zealous, faithful, and affectionate ; 
A pattern of good works, in his life ; 

Pure and incorrupt in his doctrine ; 
A friend to the poor and distressed; 
A comforter of the sick and afflicted 
A father to the orphans ; 
A husband to the widow; 
And, in his unusual charity,.-. 
The good Samaritan. 

This monument was erected by an affectionate peo* 
pie, in grateful acknowledgment of the benefits 
they received from his ministry. 



xxxiv 



MEMOIRS. 



Such were the last moments of this excellent 
man. He lived to promote the happiness of others ; 
he died with the humble hope that he had not lived 
in vain, and the joyful confidence of his eternal 
union with " the spirits of just men made perfect," 
in the holiness and bliss of the heavenly world. In 
his character there was a visible combination of the 
most interesting excellencies. Through every de- 
partment of social life, he maintained all the vir- 
tues of a mind sanctified by the grace of God. The 
christian and the gentleman, piety and politeness, 
were united in his deportment. His industry in lite- 
rary pursuits was indefatigable, and his attainments 
were such as to place him in the ranks of eminence. 
His person was pleasing ; his eye bright and piercing ; 
and his aspect uncommonly commanding. Tn 
the pulpit he shone with peculiar lustre. Few 
preachers had so happy and so natural a manner of 
delivery. His reading was singularly excellent ; 
the modulations of his voice were so well disposed, 
and his emphasis so correctly laid, that illiterate 
people have expressed their opinion of his reading 
the lessons in the service, by saying, " that it was 
like an explanation of the chapter as he went 
along." His zeal for souls, and his endeavours to 
speak, as Baxter says, " like a dying man to dying 
men," made his sermons so interesting, that his 
church was always filled, and frequently thronged 
to overflowing. It was almost impossible for any 
one to be inattentive or trifling ; a sacred awe ge- 
nerally rested upon the whole congregation. Every 
one saw that he was powerfully affected with the 
awful warnings, and encouraging invitations, he 
gave to others. He was plain and faithful ; but 
his plainness was not vulgarity, and his faithful- 
ness was free from all that disgusting familiarity, 
harshness, and severity, which too often degrade 
the pulpit. Fear and ambition formed no part of 
his public character. He kept back no truth to 



MEMOIRS. 



XXXV 



avoid offence ; he acted no part to gain applause. 
He had cultivated that style of preaching which he 
thought most calculated to rouse the careless, and 
comfort the distressed. His favourite, as an author 
of sermons, was Davies, whom he most resembled 
in his own style, and in his general manner of 
preaching. He had one notion which may be con- 
sidered as peculiar ; but which, I make no doubt, 
was formed from an attentive observation, as to the 
sort of style best calculated to arrest and fix the 
attention of the people ; he would say, when read- 
ing any well composed tract, or short address, 
drawn up for the poor, " It is too well written, 
these finished things are not striking enough ; a 
person must be content to forfeit some of his fame 
as an elegant writer, if he would be useful." — 
Some persons who have read his last publication, 
may perhaps recollect passages, in which, they may 
see reason to think, he occasionally wrote under the 
influence of this opinion. And as his prevailing 
endeavour through life, was to be useful rather 
than to shine, it will be readily believed that he 
made some such sacrifices himself. 

His literary productions are, — 1st, Seven Ser- 
mons on different Subjects, printed in 1774. 2d, 
Sacred Literature, in 4 vols. 8vo, 1788. 3d, A 
Discourse on Stage Entertainments, 1788. 4th, 
On the Vast Importance of True Religion ; 5th, 
On the Royal Proclamation ; 6th, On Inoculation ; 
- 7th, On Beneficence ; 8th, On Dreams and Night 
Visions: — the above were printed in 1789. 9th, 
Strictures on Religious Opinions, in Answer to Dr. 
Priestley, 1792. 10th, An Essay on the Authen- 
ticity of the New Testament, 1793. 11th, A Key 
to the Prophecies, 1795. 12th, A Plea for Religion, 
1797. And 13th, An Apology for the Doctrine of 
the Trinity, 179S. Of this last work, the volume 
of which this memoir of its Author now forms a 

d 



xxx vi 



MEMOIRS. 



part, the following just, and valuable account is 
given, in the British Critic for January, 1800. 

u Although we are not partial to the word Apo- 
logy *, made use of in the title of this publication, 
yet we can give ample praise to the book itself, both 
in the design and the execution. Great industry and 
zeal of perseverance are displayed throughout the 
whole ; the selections, from the best ancient authors, 
Jewish as well as Pagan, are numerous and judi- 
cious ; and, by means of the chronological order 
which is uniformly adopted in the course of the dis- 
cussion, the arguments and the evidences are brought 
before the reader in a regular and successive series, 
affording each to the other a gradual but powerful 
corroboration, in regard to the great truths intend- 
ed to be demonstrated, and forming, altogether, a 
grand and solid column of defence, sufficient to resist 
the united rage of Arians, Socinians, Sabellianists, 
and other inveterate oppugners of the sacred doc- 
trine investigated. The author very justly consi- 
ders it as interwoven with every particle of genuine 
Christianity, from the first verse of Genesis to the 
last of Revelations, and a firm belief in it as essen- 
tial to salvation ; nobody who wholly rejects it can 
Jiave any real title to the name of Christian, how- 
ever he may assume it ; and a partial adopter of 
the doctrine only, one who softens it down to his 
own misguided conception of things, must, in many 
of the most important practical duties incumbent on 
true believers, be guilty of the greatest incon- 
sistencies ; nay, even of gross absurdity, and very 
often of idolatry. These are not the times to con- 
cede any thing either to timid integrity among our- 
selves, or fluctuating doubts and scruples among 
our milder opponents. It is necessary that the truth 
should be spoken, not only out, but aloud ; and, 
therefore, the author who has taken such elaborate 

* The Editor has now substituted Plea, for Apology. 



MEMOIRS. 



xxx vii 



toil to illustrate a doctrine so unspeakably impor- 
tant, cannot fail of having our most decided ap- 
plause. The Introduction is sensible, learned, and 
pious, and all the leading arguments of the sceptic 
against it, are examined and refuted either in the 
text, or in the very extended and useful notes which 
accompany that text. 

" With respect to the work itself, it is divided 
into six Parts, and subdivided into numerous Sec- 
tions. The first Part contains an account of what 
occurs concerning this fundamental article of our 
faith in the Old Testament ; all the divine appear- 
ances which are presumed to corroborate or esta- 
blish it, and a general view of the various opinions 
on each of those manifestations expressed by the 
ancient Jewish writers of the first eminence, as well 
as the Fathers who flourished in the earliest periods 
after the promulgation of Christianity. The second 
Part is equally diffuse and satisfactory, concerning 
the testimonies borne to the person and character of 
Christ by inspired men, immediately antecedent to 
his birth, and during his abode on earth ; as also 
the testimony of Christ with respect to himself, as 
the true Messiah, his character, and functions. To 
these are added, the attestations on the same sub- 
ject, of the Apostles in the Epistles, and other 
sacred books of the New Testament. Part the 
Third pursues the very same line of extensive and 
minute research, through the books of the Old and 
New Testament, relative to the agency and charac- 
ter of the Holy Spirit ; and having incontestably 
proved, from their office and functions, that each 
was actually possessed of the native energy of deity, 
and performed acts which none less than a God 
could perform, the author, in the four final Parts, 
proceeds to consider at great length, and in the 
same progressive and chronological order, whatever 
has been urged relative to the doctrine of a plurality 
in the divine nature among the ancient Pagan phi- 



xxxviii 



MEMOIRS. 



losophers of Asia, and proves, as far as the argu- 
ment will admit of proof, that both this notion, 
and the Platonic Trinity, can be no other than the 
broken and corrupted remains of a revelation, 
vouchsafed to man in the first ages, concerning this 
mysterious- doctrine. Though the arguments used 
are not wholly new, nor has the field here explored 
been unbeaten of recent years, yet many things 
that have escaped his predecessors, are by this au- 
thor presented to the reader in a strong point of 
view ; and the whole subject is concentrated and 
displayed in such an impressive manner, as to strike 
the understanding with its whole force at once ; 
leaving no shadow of doubt upon the mind not har- 
dened by long-continued scepticism, of the truth of 
the grand original position with which he com- 
menced his laboured dissertation. 

66 The great advantage of this chronological ar- 
rangement of the argument is, that the reader can, 
with the greatest ease, instantly refer to the dis- 
tinguished author who, in any era of the Jewish 
or Christian Church, or in any century of the 
Pagan world, may have, by his wrtings, eluci- 
dated the subjects in question, and that he will 
find here, abridged, or in detail, as his strictures 
may best merit, the substance of his dissertation, 
with generally some account of him in the notes. 
Nor is it of small utility, or of trifling importance 
to the generality of Christians, beyond whose ability 
of purchase the greater number of the authors 
whose evidence is thus collected together, and judi- 
ciously condensed, are placed, that the sum and 
contents of many very rare and expensive volumes 
may be found in this. The author of this work was 
young and unpreferred. In his Preface, he com- 
plains of the infirm state of his health, and possibly 
that infirmity might have been increased by the in- 
cessant labour of research employed on this meri- 
torious composition ; for we have been informed 



MEMOIRS. 



xxxix 



that, since its publication, his death has taken 
place. No doubt the reflection on his pious endea- 
vours to vindicate this grand article of the Christian 
creed, would support him on his bed of sickness, 
and irradiate the moments of his dissolution. He 
is gone to his reward ; and that reward will amply 
compensate him for the toil which contributed to 
sink him to an untimely grave*" 



I 



THE 



Spirit of Modern Socinianism 

EXEMPLIFIED. 

(THE EDITORS PREFACE.) 



While engaged in preparing this edition of 
Mr. Simpson's invaluable work for the press, my 
attention was directed to various publications avow- 
edly hostile to the doctrines for which he so ably 
pleads, and the truth of which he so indubitably 
establishes. These publications were read with the 
most serious and candid regard to the professions and 
talents of their respective authors. Truth I found, was 
the professed object of each, and each displayed 
powers and acquirements which, ha'd they been sancti- 
fied by veneration for the oracles of God, and love 
to the Redeemer of man, would have secured to their 
possessors the highest honours, and enjoyments, of 
mortality. But I soon saw, that all their genius 
and learning were employed to invalidate the au- 
thority of the divine writings, and to degrade the 
character of Christ to a level with infirm and sin- 
ful humanity: and some of them I thought fre- 
quently indulged the ebullitions of tempers, totally 
incompatible with the state of fallible and account- 
able beings. But Mr. Belsham's " Calm Inquiry 



xlii 



THE SPIRIT OF MODERN 



Into the Scripture Doctrine concerning the Person 
of Christ/' presented itself with peculiar claims upon 
public notice, he being now considered as the cham- 
pion of Socim'anism, and his work, as a complete 
exhibition of that system. Mr. Belsharn is certainly 
no common adversary ; but the chief novelty of his 
character is, that he does not lurk in ambush, but 
appears in the open field, against the arrayed hosts 
of the orthodox, declaring his determination to ad- 
mit of no parley, or compromise, and to give no 
quarter. Calvinism, or what the majority of Chris- 
tians would rather denominate Evangelical religion, 
our author has elsewhere pronounced, in high tones 
of self-gratulation, "a rigorous, gloomy, and horrid 
system ; the extravagance of error ; a mischievous 
compound of impiety and idolatry." With this fright- 
ful spectre of his own imagination standing perpe- 
tually in his presence, this learned theologian writes 
his Calm Inquiry. But, the calmness of that diffi- 
dence and candour, by which creatures prone to err 
should ever wish to be distinguished, is often for- 
gotten, if not awfully reversed: and, in declaim- 
ing against the Deity and Atonement of Jesus, and 
the doctrine of the Trinity, language seems too 
poor to afford modes of expression suited to the 
prevailing indignation of his spirit. 

The following extracts from Mr. Belsham's Calm 
Inquiry, which are given faithfully in his own words, 
will form a striking epitome of Socinian, or Unita- 
rian theology ; will clearly exemplify the general 
spirit of its advocates ; and decide, to the satisfac- 
tion of every calm and impartial inquirer, whether 
his system, or that for which Mr. Simpson contends, 
deserves the character of u gloomy and horrid, 

THE EXTRAVAGANCE OF ERROR, AND A MISCHIEVOUS 
-COMPOUND OF IMPIETY AND IDOLATRY OF, t'O Com- 
plete the climax, and take in all the bearings of 
the question upon both sides, I will add, of blas- 
phemy. 



SOCINIANISM EXEMPLIFIED 



xliii 



Speaking of the incarnation of Jesus, p. 11, Mr. 
Belsham informs us, that "Trypho the Jew, in his 
Dialogue with Justin Martyr, early in the second 
century, represents the notion of the pre-existence 
and incarnation of Jesus, as not only wonderful, 
but silly : and he reproaches the Christians for their 
belief in the miraculous conception of Christ, which 
he ridicules as a fiction equally absurd with that of 
Jupiter and Danae." Subsequent extracts will show 
how perfectly Trypho the Jew and the Socinians, 
are agreed upon this article. From Luke iii. 1, 
it appears, Mr. B. says, that Jesus was born fif- 
teen years before the death of Augustus ; that is, 
at least, two years after the death of Herod ; a fact 
which completely falsifies the whole narrative 
contained in the preliminary chapters of Matthew 
and Luke. Page 12. Matthew, Mark, Luke, 
James, Peter, and Jude, are generally allowed to 
hare advanced nothing upon the subject of the 
pre-existence, and superior nature and dignity 
of Jesus Christ. Page 15. In the gospel of John 
our Lord sometimes uses metaphors of the most 
obscure and offensive kind, such as eating his 
flesh, and drinking his blood. Page 18. Paul, 
in his Epistles, introduces many harsh and un- 
common figures. Page 19. The author of the 
Epistle to the Hebrews indulges himself in an m- 
genious, but forced and fanciful analogy, between 
the Mosaic institute and the Christian dispensa- 
tion. Page 19. Persons who have not much at- 
tended to the subject, and who have been edu- 
cated in the belief of these extraordinary doc- 
trines, are surprised when they come to learn how 
few passages of Scripture can be produced in fa- 
vour of the Pre-existence and Divinity of Jesus 
Christ. Page 20. 

The language of !Dr. Guyse, in his Exposition 
of John 17, 24, would lead us to conclude, that 
the Father wished to be off his bargain, if the Son 



xliv 



THE SPIRIT OF MODERN 



had not held him closely to the terms of the bond. 
Page 117. Col. 1. 17. He is before all things. — 
Prom this ambiguous text no argument can be 
drawn for the Pre-existence of Christ. Page 143. 
John 14. 28. " My Father is greater than I." — This 
is a very preplexihg text to those who believe in 
the proper Deity of Christ. Page 154. Paul hav- 
ing found in Psalm 110, the priesthood of the 
Messiah compared with that of Melchisedec, strains 
the similitude, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, to 
as many points of resemblance as possible. Page 
160. John 2. 19 — 21. " Jesus answered, destroy 
this temple, meaning his body, and hi three days 
I will raise it up." — But Mr. Belsham assures us that 
our Lord does not mean what he says. His words, 
I will raise it up, are to be understood figura- 
tively; not that he would indeed raise himself, but 
that he should be raised by God. Page 173. 

Revelations 1. 8, is undoubtedly to be under- 
stood as uttered in the person of God, and not of 
Jesus. The words repeated, v. 11, where Christ is 
the speaker, are certainly spurious. Page 177. 
When Jesus says, Where two or three are gathered 
together in my name, there am I in the midst of 
them ; our learned critic would have us understand 
him as saying, " Such requests, dictated by my au- 
thority, and prompted by the spirit which I will 
communicate, will be as efficacious as if I myself 
were personally present." Page 178. Matt. 9. 4. 
" Jesus, knowing their thoughts:" — Mark 2. 8. 
" When Jesus perceived in his spirit that they rea- 
soned thus within themselves ;"— by these expres- 
sions, says Mr. Belsham, perhaps the historians, 
Matthew and Mark, might mean nothing more than 
that he judged from their countenances what was 
passing in their hearts: Page 179. So that, in his 
estimation, Jesus Christ was nothing more than a 
good physiognomist! ! 



SOCINIANISM EXEMPLIFIED. 



xlv 



Revelations 2. 23. I (Jesus) am he who searches 
the reins and the heart. Compare 1 Kings 8. 39. 
Solomon, in his prayer at the dedication of his tem- 
ple, says, " Thou, even thou, only hnowest the 
hearts of all the children of men." Now let it be 
observed, with what marvellous facility our author 
elucidates the import of the passage thus compared 
with the words of the king of Israel. " To say no- 
thing of the doubtful authenticity of the Apoca- 
lypse, and of this portion of it, these passages 
would prove nothing more than that Christ, in his 
exalted state, is acquainted with the circumstances 
of his churches, and with the character of indivi- 
dual members." Page 183. 

To argue the doctrine of the divinity of Christ, 
or even his pre-existence and superior nature, from 
the strong and hyperbolical expressions used by the 
evangelist John, unsupported by any other sacred 
writers, especially when it is considered that he ap- 
plies the same language to Christians in general, 
is drawing a grand conclusion from very precarious 
premises. Page 186.. John 14. 7, 9—11. "If ye 
had known me, ye had known my Father also. — 
He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father. — Be- 
lie vest thou not that I am in the Father, and the 
Father in me ? — The Father who dwelleth in me, 
he doeth the works." But this mystical language, 
when translated into popular phraseology, means 
nothing more than that our Lord spake and acted 
under a divine commission. In the same sense, 
he prays that the apostles may be united with the 
Father and himself. Page 188. 

Whether our Lord's perfection of character in 
public life, combined with the general declarations 
of h\s freedom from sin, establish, or were intended 
to establish, the fact, that Jesus, through the whole 
course of his private life, was completely exempt 
from all the errors and failings of human nature, 
is a question of no great intrinsic moment, and 



xlvi 



THE SPIRIT OF MODERN 



concerning which we have no sufficient data to 
lead to a satisfactory conclusion. Page 190. 

It cannot be proved that the appearances in 
human shape to Abraham, to Lot, to Joshua, and 
others, were any thing more than temporary phan- 
toms. Page 194. 

The whole mythology concerning angels, is 
destitute of all foundation in the Jewish and 
Christian revelation. Antecedently to the captivity 
it was unknown. By Jesus and his apostles it is 
alluded to as the popular and established belief 
of the age ; but by them it was never taught as an 
article of faith. Kevelation, therefore, is no more 
responsible for the existence of angels, good or evil, 
than it is for the existence of witches and necro- 
mancers, of apparitions or demons. Page 194. 

The Unitarians plead that Christ is called God, 
as being a Prophet invested with miraculous 
powers ; in the same sense in which Moses is said 
to be a god to Pharoah. Mr. Lindsey, and some 
modern advocates for the Unitarian doctrine, deny 
that Jesus is ever styled God in the New Testa- 
ment:' Pages 214, 215. 

Although most, if not all the Fathers of the 
church, from Irenaeus, always considered Matt. 1. 
23, as a proof that Christ was possessed of real and 
proper divinity, Mr. Belsham says, with his usual 
diffidence as an expositor of the Christian scriptures, 
" not to insist upon the spuriousness of the two 
first chapters of the gospel of Matthew, the pro- 
phecy here cited, Isaiah 7. 14, has no relation to 
the birth of the Messiah. Page 216. 

In page 215 of his Calm Inquiry, Mr. B. tells 
us that some Unitarians deny that Jesus is ever 
styled God in the New Testament. But this, it 
should seem, is not his own opinion ; for in page 
234 he speaks of the number of texts in which it can 
be presumed that Jesus is called God, as being 
comparatively very small: and of these he asserts, 



SOCINIANISM EXEMPLIFIED. 



xlvii 



that some are evidently spurious, that in others 
the application of the epithet to Christ is by no 
means clear and decisive, and that if the title God 
is ever applied to Christ, which perhaps may be 
admitted in one or two instances, it is in an infe- 
rior sense, but he never assumed the title of God 
himself. Again, p. 252, Jesus never claimed equa- 
lity with God. Nor did the Jews mean to charge 
him with so gross a blasphemy. 

Dr. Doddridge, in his note upon Rev. 1. 2, says, 
I cannot forbear recording it, that this text has 
done more than any other in the Bible towards pre- 
venting me from giving into that scheme, which 
would make our Lord Jesus Christ nothing more 
than a deified creature. But, to invalidate the 
force of this interesting testimony, Mr. B. observes, 
'J the learned expositor was not aware of the spu- 
riousness of this text ; and that the posthumous 
volumes of the Family Expositor were evidently 
left in a very unfinished state." Page 269. 

The book of Revelation is one of the books, 
the genuineness of which was much disputed in the 
primitive church, and which, therefore, ought not 
to be alleged as affording alone a sufficient proof of 
any doctrine. Page 270. If the words, " who 
created all things by Jesus Christ," were genuine, 
the connexion requires they should be understood 
in reference to the moral creation. Page 279. 
And again, Page 285. To create all things, may 
signify nothing more, than to bring them into a 
new and a better state. Jesus Christ is no w 7 here 
in the New Testament expressly said to be the crea- 
tor, or maker of the heavens, the earth, the sea, 
or of any visible, natural objects. Page 281. No 
homage is required to be paid to him as the maker 
of heaven and earth, the preserver and supporter 
of all things. Page 281. 

Ephesians 3. 9, is a manifest interpolation, 
Hebrews J. 10, must be considered by all as very 



xlviii 



THE SPIRIT OF MODERN 



doubtful. Hebrews 3. 4. is most certainly nothing 
to the purpose. Revelations 3. 14, is a text both 
of doubtful authority and doubtful meaning. Page 
296, 297. The plural number, say the Trinitarians, 
is sometimes used when God is introduced as speak- 
ing. Genesis 1. 26 ; 11. 7. But Mr. B. says, this 
is nothing more than the author's dramatic way 
of writing* Page 305. " No conclusion can be 
drawn from the obscure and figurative language of 
prophecy." Page 312. 

The scriptures, Mr. Belsham asserts, have left 
us totally in the dark with regard to the pre- 
sent condition, employment, and attributes of 
Christ, and therefore it is in vain to speculate 
upon the subject. Page 325.— — It is indeed al- 
ledged that Christians are said to judge the world 
only in a figurative sense, but that this office is at- 
tributed to Christ, really, properly, and without a 
figure. But this distinction is quite gratuitous and 
unauthorised. For any thing that appears to the 
contrary, the apostles, and other Christians will 
be constituted judges of the world in the very 
same sense with Christ, though probably in an 
inferior degree." Page 343. Christ is a figurative 
lawgiver ; he is a figurative Priest, because he 
sacrificed his life in the cause of truth ; he is a figu- 
rative Conqueror, and a figurative King ; and in 
like manner he is figuratively a Judge. Page 346. 

Mr. Fuller in his excellent work, " The Calvi- 
nistic and Socinian Systems compared," clearly de- 
monstrates the superiority of the former system in 
promoting love to Christ. The following pas- 
sages from Mr. Belsham's Calm Inquiry, will 
serve to illustrate Mr. Fuller's, reasoning, and to 
establish his conclusion* " Our Lord has so expli- 
citly and repeatedly declared, that all the love 
which he requires of his disciples is, to obey the 
precepts of his gospel, that it seems surprising, that 
personal affection to Christ should be so often re- 



SOCINIANISM EXEMPLIFIED. 



xlxix 



presented and insisted upon, as a Christian duty 
of the highest importance. It is impossible that 
Christians who have had no personal intercourse 
with him, and who have received no personal be- 
nefits from him, can love him in the same sense in 
which the apostles and his other companions did. 
They may indeed figure to their imaginations an 
ideal person, they may ascribe to this person the 
most amiable attributes, they may fancy they are 
tinder greater obligations to him than to the Father 
himself; in the warmth of their imaginations, they 
may conceive themselves as holding converse with 
him, and affections may be drawn out of this ideal 
benefactor to a very great extent ; their faith and 
hope, and love, and joy, may swell even to ec- 
stacy ; — but this is not love to Christ : it is nothing 
but a fond and groundless affection to a mere 
Phantom of the imagination." Calm Inquiry Page 
355 *. 

Matthew 28. 9, 17 ; Luke 24. 51, 52 ; Matthew 
9. 18 ; 15. 25 ; John 9. 38. The worship in these 
instances offered to Christ was civil respect, not re- 
ligious homage. Page 361. 2 Peter 3. 18. " But 
grow in grace, and in tlie knowledge of our Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ; to him be glory both now 
and forever." Amen. Three manuscripts and the 
Syriac version, add the words, " and of God the 
Father." It is also to be remembered, that the 
epistle itself is of doubtful authority. Page 369. 
The pre-existence and divinity of Christ are no 
where taught as doctrines of revelation, but are 
left to be inferred from indirect arguments, oh* 
scure phraseology, and ambiguous hints. Page 381, 
382. Through the whole course of his ministry, 
our Lord was uniformily treated by his associates 
and disciples as a man, highiy distinguished, in- 
deed, by divine communications and powers; but 



* See Mr. Fuller's Works, page 208. 



THE SPIRIT OF MODERN 



in no other respect different from his brethren,, 
Page 384. Jesus was born into the world like other 
men. He suffered and died like other men. He 
was as truly, properly, and completely a human 
being, as any of those whom he came to rescue from 
the fear of death. Pages 393, 394, 395. 

The Unitarian doctrine is, that Jesus of Naza- 
reth was a man constituted in all respects like other 
men, subject to the same infirmities, the same 
Ignorance, Prejudices, and Frailties. Page 447. 
" The Jews, the Mahometans, and all serious be- 
lievers in the unity of God," that is all Unitarians, 
regard the doctrine of the Trinity with abhorrence, 
as an infringement upon the most fundamental 
article of natural religion." Page 524. But here 
we leave Mr. Belsham, with his coadjutors in hos- 
tility against God our Saviour, the Jews, and the 
Mahometans; submitting, from the specimen here 
produced, to the judgment of the unbiassed readers, 
with what regard to truth the Unitarians deny that 
they are justly chargeable with attempting to wrest, 
and to distort the sense of the scriptures, in order 
to adapt them to their own system ; and what credit 
they are likely to obtain when they assert, with 
Mr. Belsham, " that the principal arguments of 
the Trinitarians are founded upon mistranslations, 
misinterpretations, or corruptions of the scriptures." 
See the Calm Inquiry, Page 465, 512. With what- 
ever " indignation they may reject this charge," 
and with whatever affected confidence, and triumph, 
they may retort it, they can never obtain a ver- 
dict of acquittal, while words are capable of being 
reduced to any definitive meaning, and language 
maintains its grammatical influence upon the com- 
mon sense of mankind. 

The portraiture of Socinianism drawn by Mr. 
White in his Bampton Lectures, is so applicable to 
the character of Mr. Belsham's Calm Inquiry, and 
so congenial with Mr. Simpson's Plea for the Deity 



SOCTNIANISM EXEMFLIFED. 



ii 



of Christ, that it cannot fail to excite peculiar at- 
tention and interest. 

But the Socinian and the Mahometan object to 
our doctrine its inconsistency with human reason. 
The objection supposes that man is possessed of a 
larger comprehension than falls to the lot of mor- 
tality ; and that what he cannot understand, cannot 
be true. 

We appeal to the scriptures. But the Mahome- 
tans and Socinians have both discovered the same 
methods of interpretation ; and either by false 
glosses pervert their plain and obvious meaning ; 
or, when the testimony is so direct and explicit that 
no forced obstruction can evade it, they have re- 
course to the last artifice of abortive zeal ; the cry 
of interpolation I 

If the Mahometan denies, like the Phantomist 
of more ancient times, the reality of the sufferings 
and death of Christ, as represented by the evan- 
gelists ; the Socinian, by denying their efficacy, 
sinks them to the level of common martyrdom : 
and though the facts themselves be not questioned, 
yet their design and end is totally lost in the creed 
of Socinus. 

The Socinian hypothesis staggers all speculation. 
It is contrary to every maxim of historical evi- 
dence ; and if pursued to its obvious consequences, 
includes in it the overthrow of Christianity, and 
renders every record of every age suspicious and 
uncertain. It reverses the common rules by which 
we judge of past events ; and in the strictest sense 
of the expression, makes the first, last, and the 
last, first ; — makes the less superior to the greater; 
and what is doubtful and partial, more decisive thau 
what is full, clear and certain. 

Examine Socinianism by any rule of history that 
has been adopted for the trial of any fact, or the 
determination that has been passed on any opinion, 
and we can scarcely avoid seeing its utter incon- 

e 



Iii 



THE SPIRIT OF MODERN 



sistency with the universal creed of the Christian 
church from the earliest period of its existence to 
the present time. 

Socinianism makes every thing doubtful. And 
no wonder — while it makes so little of the most 
express declarations of scripture, we need not be 
surprised that it should pay so little respect to the 
plainest evidence of history. 

The gradation from Socinianism to Deism is 
very slight ; and especially that species of Socinia- 
nism which has been patronized by a writer, who 
in order to support it has thought proper to aban- 
don the inspiration of the scriptures; and has 
made no scruple to call the apostle St. Paul an 
inconclusive reasoner*. On such a footing Soci- 
nianism may possibly maintain its ground. But on 
such a footing Deism may maintain its ground 
much better: and it is rather wonderful that those 
who have given up so much, should retain any 
thing. For what is there in Christianity, when all 
its distinguishing doctrines are taken away, that 
could render it a subject worthy of a particular re- 
velation ? Did the stupendous miracles that were 
wrought to introduce and establish it in the world* 
and the train of prophecies which were gradually 
disclosed to point out its high and illustrious origin, 
find an end suitable to their extraordinary nature? 

Morality, and a future state, include the whole 
of Christianity, according to the representation of a 
Socinian. But suppose a Deist should adopt (as 
many have, and justly may) the same morality, 
and the same sanctions on the ground of natural 
evidence, wherein lies the essential and discrimina- 
ting characteristic of Christianity ? Where lies the 
real difference between a believer in divine revela- 
tion and a religious theist ? — Socinianism cuts to 
the very root of all that is distinguishing in the 
gospel. It destroys the necessity, and even the 



* Corruptions of Christianity, vol, II, p. 370, 



SOCIXIAMSM EXEMPLIFIED, 



importance of a miraculous interposition, and gives 
the infidel too great reason to exclaim, that all that 
was extraordinary was superfluous ; and that the 
apparatus was too expensive and too splendid for 
the purposes to which it was applied. This seems 
to be an argumeut a priori against that species of 
Christianity, which some, under the pretence of re- 
fining it from corruption, would reduce to the level 
of natural religion*. 

Such are the characteristics of that system, the 
advocates of which pretend, " to detect the corrup- 
tions of the christian doctrine, and to represent Chris- 
tianity in its true light" (Calm Inquiry, p. 520.) and 
who, in the highest tones of self gratulation and 
triumph, anticipate the day when its doctrines shall 
obtain universal credence, and forever supersede the 
" idolatrous worship of Jesus Christ together 
with that delusive confidence in his atonement, and 
all those other 66 gross errors and abominations 
which, Mr. Belsham says, have, for so many centuries, 
been the disgrace of reason, and the bane of christian^ 
ity," p. 421. But the spirit of Socinianisrn, as exhibited 
by professor White, or rather it might be said, as 
exhibited in the writings,discourses, and deportment of 
iis friends and advocates in general, determines its 
ultimate fate, in direct reverse of all these predic- 
tions. The cause of rational Christianity, as it is 
arrogantly termed, is a dying cause ; and what-* 
ever learning, or talents, or zeal may be employed 
in its support, whatever confidence may be pro- 
fessed as to its prevalence in the world, it must 
fall, because His not the Christianity of the New 
Testament, And the promulgators of its degrading 
tenets must witness its daily declension, with feel- 
ings, of vexation which are not to be concealed by all 
their parade of " liberal criticism," by the gasconade 
of exclusive rationality, or the hackneyed calls of 



White's SermonSy p. 53, 57. notes. 

e 2 



liv 



THE SPIRIT OF MODERN 



defiance, to prove the truth of doctrines already 
established by evidence and reasoning they have 
never refuted. 

Let any man possessing the spirit of inquiry, 
and with a mind open to conviction, read Mr. 
Belsham's Defence of Socinianism, with Mr. Simp- 
son's Plea for the Deity of Christ, and the Doctrine 
of the Trinity; let him compare the statements, the 
proofs, the arguments, and the pervading spirit of 
each, and there can be no doubt, that the result 
will be, his full reception of the exploded doctrine 
of the cross, and his holy abhorrence of the insidi- 
ous arts that would rob that cross of all its essential 
glory. Then it will be seen which of the two systems 
deserves to be characterised, and exploded as gloomy, 
and as full of horrors, and the extravagance of 
error. — Is it that System, which involves us in perpe- 
tual doubt and uncertainty, by pouring contempt up- 
on the generally acknowledged authority of the in- 
spired writings, or that which looks with adoring, 
and implicit confidence to those writings, as " able 
to make us wise unto Salvation, through faith which 
is in Christ Jesus?" — Is that system gloomy and full 
of horrors, which directs the guilty and burdened 
mind to a Saviour, who is described by the inspira- 
tion Of God, as ABLE TO SAVE TO THE UTTERMOST, 

or that which must consign us to all the miseries of 
despondency and despair, by representing this Sa- 
viour as a mere man, — a fallible, peccable man, — a 
man liable to ignorance, prejudice, and sin? Calm 
Inquiry, p. Is that system to be held in abhor- 
rence as gloomy and full of horrors — Is that 
system to be exhibited and execrated as the extra- 
vagance of error, which inculcates love to Christ 
our Redeemer, as the essential principle of all 
religious duties, and as the soul of all spiritual en- 
joyment ; or that which annihilates every principle 
connected with affection to him, by ridiculing such 
affection as a mere Phantom of the Imagina- 



SOCINIANISM EXEMPLIFIED. 



tion 9 and by representing the object of it as an 
Ideal Benefactor, from whom we have received 
no personal benefits ? Pages 355, 356 

Which of these two systems is justly stigmatised 
and discarded as gloomy, — as full of horrors, — 
as the extravagance of error, no man, with the 
New Testament in his hand, and with a disposition to 
be governed in his opinions by the plain and ob- 
vious meaning of its language, can for a moment 
hesitate to determine. The great question will be 
forever decided, and the believer will become sode- 
termined in avowing and maintaining his attachment 
to the doctrine of u God manifest in the flesh*' 
for the salvation of the world, that " If any one come 
to him under the character of a religious teacher, 
and bring not this doctrine, he will give him no 
countenance, as a minister of Christianity, but avoid 
him as one of the worst enemies of the church*." — 
The advocates and the adversaries of the doctrines 
6f the Cross, are removed to such an immense dis- 
tance from each other, and there are so many insu- 
perable obstacles between them, that as honest men 
they can never think of meeting in Christian fellow- 
ship. Then let us, on both sides, cease to compli- 
ment each other with a religious character, the 
claims of which must be exclusive on one side or the 
other, and let us look to our sentiments in the so- 
lemn expectation of that day which shall finally 
determine, — Whether it is blasphemy to treat GOD 
as a creature liable to infirmity, ignorance, pre- 
judice, and sin, — or the grossest idolatry to worship 
Him, as possessing the perfections, prerogatives, and 
honours of deity. 

I do not consider myself as responsible for every 
opinion advanced by my author, nor do I presume 
to say, that every testimony produced by him is to 



* See 2 John, 10, 11. 



hi 



THE SPIRIT OF MODERN SQCINIANISM. 



be received as legitimate evidence of the point de- 
signed to be established ; but I am confident that no 
volume, in any language, can exhibit a more va- 
luable mass of evidence to the truth of the doctrines 
immediately at issue.— To the young biblical stu- 
dent in particular, such a volume must prove a 
rich treasure of information and argument ; to the 
Christian it will be found the means of exciting, 
strengthening, and con (inning all devotional sen- 
timents and feelings ; and to the Unbeliever, I trust 
it will prove the effectual means of silencing his cavils, 
of removing his objections, and subduing his hostility 
against the only appointed medium of salvation. Un- 
der these impressions this work is now presented to the 
public, with some of tho.se improvements which I am 
sure the author himself would have made, had he 
lived to publish a second edition. The miscellane- 
ous observations are divided into three sections, 
and are now distinguished as the first part of the 
work ; at the head of each section I have given a 
summary of its contents ; several important autho- 
rities, to which Mr. Simpson had merely referred, 
are inserted at length, with a few additions from 
works of a more recent date ; and, where the tran- 
sitions were sufficiently easy to secure the spirit of 
the connexion, 1 have embodied most of the im- 
portant notes with the work. Other alterations of 
minor importance will be observed in comparing the 
two editions; but J am persuaded the whole will 
mow be found to have improved its resemblance to 
the tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden, which 
was " pleasant to the eyes and good for food ; a tree 
to be desired to make one wise." 



EDWARD PARSONS. 

J^eeds, September 10, IS 12* 



THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



THE author of this PLEA has often wished to find a 
complete treatise upon the doctrine of the Trinity. Various 
are the persons who have written upon different branches 
of the subject, and said all that seemed necessary, to establish 
their own particular views ; but what he wished to see, was, a 
full, yet compendious digest of the whole evidence, that every 
man might learn, at one view, what the word of God, together 
with Heathen, Jewish, and Christian antiquity, actually contains 
upon this great subject, without having recourse to many books. 

Not meeting with aiyr work of this kind, which came up to 
the idea he had formed in his own mind, he resolved, as expc 
ditiously as his other engagements, and an infirm state of health 
would permit, to examine for himself, and to pursue his own 
plan of investigation. He does not know that the result of his 
inquiries will, by any means, afford that satisfaction to others, 
which he hath received from them himself : nor is he so vain as 
to suppose, that no method can be invented more likely to ascer- 
tain what are the real doctrines of holy scripture upon the 
subjects in question. Every man hath his own peculiar way of 
thinking; and every man is obliged, to the utmost of his power, 
not only to investigate truth for himself, but as far as he can, to 
guard the unwary from error, and labour for the promotion of 
what he conceives to be, important truth. His thoughts have pro- 
ceeded in the following train. He has, First, made some 
general observations upon the doctrines under consideration. 
Secondly, he has traced the scriptures concerning our Lord's 
person and character, chronologically, through every age, from 
the beginning of the world, till the close of the divine canon. 
Thirdly, the doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit is examined 
through the Old and New Testaments, though not with that 



Stfiil THE AUTHORS 

variety of observation as the former. This he did not conceive 
to be necessary : because, if the doctrine of a plurality of per- 
sons in the Divine Nature can be fairly established, it will not 
admit of a dispute what persons compose that mysterious unity. 
Fourthly he has traced the doctrine of the Trinity in the 
same chronological manner as the divinity of Christ, and through 
the same extent of duration. A chronological method of inves- 
tigation seemed preferable to every other, because the divinity 
of Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, together with the doctrine 
of the Sacred Trinity, were, in some measure, hidden for 
ages and generations, and were but gradually made known to 
the sons of men. 

In the course of this inquiry, he has produced the opinions of 
various Jews and Heathens, who lived before and since the time 
pf our Saviour. If they are found to have entertained similar 
sentiments with us upon these subjects, it will afford a strong 
presumptiou, that our interpretations of the Old Testament 
writings are just; and a certain confirmation, that our views of 
these great doctrines are not so novel as some zealous moderns 
would wish mankind to believe. 

The Christian fathers also who flourished in the first three or 
our centuries, are of great importance in this inquiry. They 
appear to him the very best and most authentic interpreters of 
holy scripture, so far, at least, as they are consistent one with 
another. They lived near the age of our Saviour. Some of 
them knew him personally. Others were apostles themselves, 
or conversed familiarly with the apostles. Several of them were 
great, most of them pious and learned men. They had, accor- 
dingly, much better opportunites of knowing in what sense the 
scriptures were originally understood, than we can have in these 
latter ages, unless we interpret them under the guidance of their 
writings. This is the method, which hath been pursued, by 
the most judicious aud successful interpreters of scripture, 
in every period of the Christian church. And this, therefore, 
he lays down as a principle, from which we should very cau- 
tiously depart, that the most reasonable and safe mode of un- 
derstanding the Word of God, is, to consult the general sense 



PREFACE. 



lix 



of the Christian writers, who lived in the first centuries after 
the birth of our Saviour, They are our best human guides, at 
least so far as facts are concerned ; and what they have con- 
curred to establish, under the direction of the sacred writings* 
bids fair to be the truth. 

In addition to the whole, he has thrown 4nto the notes the 
observations and reasonings of many of our first theologians, to 
corroborate and illustrate what had been advanced in the text ; 
and he makes no question but these will be considered as the 
most valuable parts of the work. The opinions of the Fathers 
too, have been frequently added, to illustrate a variety of pas- 
sages, and sometimes even more than once, besides the general 
view of their opinions which is given in the seventh part. This 
is the case likewise with some of the scriptural quotations ; but 
then they are always produced with different views, and to prove 
a different doctrine. In short, the author has used every help 
within the compass of a small library, in a country place, and 
without any advice or assistance from the learned. This he 
hath done for his own satisfaction. The labour hath been con- 
siderable, but not unpleasant. And he has reaped the consola- 
tion of finding, that the divinity of Christ, and the Holy Spi- 
rit, together with the doctrine of the Trinity, are not only 
contained in the pages of divine revelation, but have pervaded 
all nations and all time, with greater or less degrees of perspicuity, 

But, these doctrines are attended with difficulty !— True. — 
This, however, is not our concern. The simple question is — Do 
the sacred writings contain these distinguishing peculiarities? If 
they do, the point in question is gained. To the law and to the 
testimony; if they speak not according; to that word, it is because 
there is no light in them. The difficulty attending the comprehen- 
sion of any particular representation of the nature of the Divine 
Being, supposing it to be clearly revealed, is no substantial ob- 
jection. The first principle of natural religion contains innumer- 
able — I had almost said — impossibilities. What is God 1 is in- 
volved in the most absolute incomprehensibility. And yet we 
must either admit the principle, or embrace ten thousand ab- 
surdities and impossibilities. Man was not made to cavil at 



lx THE AUTHORS 

every thing he does not comprehend (for what does he fully 
comprehend ?) but modestly to investigate the truth — to submit 
to the best evidence the nature of the case will admit — and 
zealously to adore the Author of his being, according to the 
fullest light, which reason and revelation have afforded him. 
It is much to be apprehended, various mistakes will be disco- 
vered by the attentive reader in the course of so long a work, 
especially in the quotations, references, and translations. The 
Author deprecates the severity of criticism. He can assure 
the reader, however, much attention has been paid to these 
matters, and he is not conscious of having, in any instance, per- 
verted a sentiment to favour an hypothesis. He sincerely 
wishes truth to have its full scope. If any passage is turned 
from its proper meaning, he is not conscious of it, is sorry for 
it, and intreats the reader to restore it to its genuine significa- 
tion. It has been his endeavour to bring every thing that is 
material upon the great doctrines under consideration, into on 
view, to make certain observations upon such as seemed to 
need it, and then to leave the serious Christian to draw his own 
conclusions. He contends for no human creeds or explications 
whatever. He would not give a rush for a million of them. 
They may be right, or they may be wrong. He troubles not his 
head about them. The scripture is enough for him. Every 
other authority is human. Christ alone is king in his own 
church. It will be perceived, that one or more asterisks are 
placed before several of the quotations from scripture. These 
are designed to draw the reader's attention to such passages 
as are more important than ordinary, and absolutely conclusive 
against some peculiarity of the Arian or Socinian schemes. Upon 
some of the scriptures quoted he does not lay any serious stress. 
But, as they have all been brought forward, by one or another, 
he has noticed them in their respective places, bearing his testi- 
mony, at the same time, against al 1 evidence tha t is not solid and sub- 
stantial. Nothing will stand, nothing can stand, but what is so, 
Nor ought we even to wish to extract meanings from the Scriptures 
which the Divine Spirit never intended. We always injure the cause 
of truth, when we attempt to make scripture prove too much. 



PREFACE, 1X1 

The strength of the following evidence will chiefly depend 
upon the connected view of it. But though every text of scrip- 
ture, which is brought to support any particular doctrine, were 
set aside, but one, as being little or nothing to the purpose, 
that one ought to be considered as conclusive, till the validity 
of it can be fairly disproved. It is disingenuous to conclude we 
have subverted any particular doctrine when we have only tried 
our strength with its feeblest supports, while its main argu- 
ments are left untouched. 

As the Author avows himself a believer of the pre-existence 
and divinity of the Savionr of mankind, and the personality and 
deity of the Holy Ghost, after the fullest investigation of these 
subjects of which he is capable, the reader will therefore peruse 
those parts of this Apology with caution, and weigh the premises 
and conclusions with the most scrupulous exactness. He is not 
backward to confess, that to him these doctrines appear essen- 
tial to the Christian scheme of redemption. If others are of a 
different opinion, he has no quarrel with them. Every man 
must examine and judge for himself. To our own master we 
stand or fall. He has no fear but the genuine truths of Chris- 
tianity shall ultimately prevail, whatever those truths may be. 
God will vindicate his own cause. The gates of hell have long 
been at work to subvert the whole system of divine truth, but 
they have not yet prevailed, nor is it to be apprehended they 
ever will. The great Head of the church, indeed, is shaking 
•the nations, and is about to purge his floor. The gold, silver, 
and precious stones shall abide the day of trial ; but the chaff 
will be blown away ; the wood, hay, and stubble shall be burnt 
up; all superstitious ordinances shall be subverted; but the Word 
of the Lord shall endure for ever. 

Here then the author of this treatise rests his faith. Anti- 
christ may fail ; superstitious observances may cease; religious 
establishments may be tumbled into ruins ; empires and king- 
doms may be overturned ; princes and governors may be de- 
posed ; the wise men of the world may take part with the ene- 
mies of truth; error and delusion may run like wild-fire among 
the thickest ranks of the people ; unbelievers may rage, and 



Ixii 



PREFACE. 



minute philosophers imagine a vain thing ; but the Bible shall 
arise out of its present obscurity, and, being stripped of all hu- 
man appendages, shall be universally had in honour; the me- 
thod of redeeming a lost race therein revealed shall be generally 
seen and embraced ; the enemies of evangelical religion shall be 
confounded world without end; Jesus shall reign, triumphant 
over all opposition, in his glorified human body, at the right 
hand of the Majesty on high, till all the ends of the earth have 
seen his great salvation, and every opposing power is brought 
into complete subjection. At the present moment, he is dash- 
ing the nations together like the vessels of a potter ; but yet, 
notwithstanding the confusion and disorder of the world, of 
which we have heard so much, and which we oursleves may 
yet possibly witness ; all the dispensations of creation, provi- 
dence, and grace, are founded in wisdom and goodness, and 
shall wind up, to the Redeemer's everlasting honour. 



DAVID SIMPSON. 



Macclesfield, 
Jan. 1. 1798. 



CONTENTS. 

PART t— SECTION t. 

Page. 

The importance of the Saviour's Deity, and 
the reasonableness of beliving it 1 — IS 

SECTION II. 
The unity of the divine essence and plurality 
of persons of the Godhead 18 — 40 

SECTION III. 
Arguments for the Deity of Jesus, and objec- 
tions against it stated and answered 40 — 63 

PART II.— SECTION I. 
Information concerning the Messiah for the 
first 3000 years of the world . . 63— 75 

SECTION II. 
Information concerning the Messiah from the 
Psalms and writings of David .............. 75— 87 

SECTION III. 
Information concerning the Messiah from 
the writings of Solomon 87 — 90 

SECTION IV. 
Information concerning the Messiah from the 
writings of the prophets Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, 
and Micah 90—106 

SECTION V. 
Information concerning the Messiah from 
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Haggai, Zechariah, 
and Malachi 106—117 

SECTION VI. 
Observations on the name Jehovah, and the 
invisibility of the Divine Being 117-^121 



Ixiv CONTENTS. 

Page. 

SECTION VII. 
Opinions of both Ancients and Moderns on 
the Divine Appearances, under the Old Testa- 
ment dispensation 121 — 137 

SECTION VIII. 
A short view of the Divine Appearances re- 
corded in the Old Testament 137 — 152 

PART III.— SECTION I. 
Various Testimonies to the Person and Cha- 
racter of Christ, immediately antecedent to his 

birth, and during his abode upon earth 152 — 165 

SECTION II. 
The Testimony of Christ himself, concerning 

his own Person and Character 165 — 195 

SECTION III. 
Christ's Manner of working miracles a proof 



of his divinity 195 — 198 

SECTION IV. 
Christ's Testimony to his own Person and 
Character at the close of his life and after his re- 
surrection 193—206 

SECTION V. 
Testimonies to the Person and Character of 
Christ, by his Apostles and Disciples, after his 

ascension into heaven ; 206—218 

SECTION VI. 
The Divinity of Christ argued from some cir- 
cumstances in the Acts of the Apostles 218 — -223 

SECTION VII. 



The Invocation of Christ a proof of his Divinity 223 — 238 



SECTION VIII. 
The Divinity of Christ argued from various 

passages in the writings of Paul 238 — 256 

SECTION IX. 
The Divinity of Christ argued from several 

passages in the Epistle to the Hebrews 256 — 27 1 

SECTION X. 
The Divinity of Christ argued from several 



passages in the Gospel of Joha, «,,,,,,*,.... 271— 2S$- 



CONTENTS* IXV 

Page. 

SECTION XI. 
The Divinity of Christ argued from some pas- 
sages in the iirst Epistle of John . . 288— 296 

SECTION XII. 
The Divinity of Christ argued from some pas- 
sages in the book of Revelation 296 — 306* 

PART IV.— SECTION I. 
A view of the doctrine concerning the Holy 
Spirit, from the Old Testament 306—321 

SECTION II. 
A view of the doctrine concerning the Holy 
Spirit, from the New Testament 321—349 

PART V.— SECTION L 
A view of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, 
from the Old Testament 349—378 

SECTION II. 
A view of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, 
from the New Testament , 378—406 

PART VI. — SECTION I. 
Opinions of the ancient Jews concerning the 
plurality of the Divine Nature, from the Apocry- 
phal books 406—412 

SECTION II. 
The Opinions of Philo, and other ancient 
Jews, concerning the plurality of the Divine 
Nature « . 412—431 

PART VII.— SECTION I. 
Opinions of the ancient Heathen concerning 
the plurality of the Divine Nature 431— 44S 

SECTION II. 



Opinions of the more modern Heathens con- 
cerning the plurality of the Divine Nature .... 443 — 456 

PART VIII.— SECTION I. 
On the utility of the writings of the Christian 
fathers, in determining the question concerning 
the doctrine of the Holy Trinity . . , , , 456—463 



IXV CONTENTS. 

Page. 

SECTION II. 
The opinions of the Apostolical fathers, con- 
cerning the Person of Christ, and doctrine of the 
Trinity 463-475 

SECTION III. 
The opinions of the Christian fathers, who 
lived in the first part of the second century, con- 
cerning the Person of Christ, and the doctrine of 
the Trinity '.} 475—479 

SECTION IV. 
The opinion of Justin Martyr concerning the 
Person of Christ, with a vindication of him from 
the charge of innovation 479 — 490 

SECTION V. 
The opinions of the Christian fathers, who 
lived in the latter part of the second century, 
concerning the Person of Christ, and the doctrine 
of the Trinity 490 — 504 

SECTION VI. 
The opinions of the Christian fathers, and 
others, of the third century, concerning the Per- 
son of Christ, and the doctrine of the Trinity . . 504 — 524 

SECTION VII. 
Opinions of the Christian fathers, and other*, 
who flourished in the fourth, and beginning of the 
fifth centuries, concerning the Person of Christ, 
and the doctrine of the Trinity 525 — 544 

SECTION VIII. 

Miscellaneous evidence to the Person of 
Christ, and doctrine of the Trinity, from Coun- 
cils, Heretics, and other circumstances of the 
first ages ..,...».. 545 — 553 

Recapitulation of the whole Evidence ...... 553 — 577 



MISCELLANEOUS 
OBSERVATIONS 



PART FIRST. 



SECTION I. 

THE IMPORTANCE OP THE DOCTRINE OP OUR SAVIOUR'S 
DEITY, AND THE REASONABLENESS OP BELIEVING IT. 



The necessity of a Saviour.— His character.— 'Equality 
ivith the Father: — Illustrated by an historical fact. — 
State of Religion where this doctrine is discarded. 
— Scriptures produced by unbelievers to prove Jesus 
inferior to the Father. — Unity of God, a first principle 
in religion. — The necessity of decision in the faith of 
his Divinity. — Guilt of infidelity. 

A right knowledge of God, and the relation we stand 
in to him, are essentially necessary, it should seem, in all, 
ordinary cases, to the attainment of future felicity. If our 
general notions of the Divine Being are wrong, considered 
as an object of worship, we adore a creature of our own 
imagination, rather than the living and true God. If we 
are not well acquainted also, with our own real and relative 
state respecting him, it is impossible we should demean 
ourselves in a becoming and acceptable manner : for, we 
should ever remember, that very different conduct is due 
from an innocent creature, to that which is due from one in 
a state of degeneracy and moral depravity* 



2 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PART. 1 4 

An innocent creature can be in no need of a Saviour, 
in no need of repentance, in no need of pardon, in no need 
of sanctification. Guilty fears, dread of God's wrath, remorse 
of conscience, and the like uneasy sensations of mind, are 
things to which he must ever be a stranger, while he retains 
his integrity. But a sinner, as such, is in want of pardon ; 
and, if his Creator thinks not proper to grant that pardon, 
by an absolute act of sovereignty, he is in want of a Saviour; 
and if his nature, at the same time that it contracted guilt, 
contracted also a moral stain, and became depraved, he will 
need a Sanctifier: repentance, fear, dread, remorse, and all 
the other concomitants of guilt, are not less the sure con- 
sequences thereof, than they are becoming his situation and 
circumstances. 

This is the state of human nature. We have all sinned, 
and come short of the glory of God, and he hath declared 
he will not pardon, by an absolute act of grace : and if we 
have all sinned, and God will not pardon, by an absolute 
act of grace, we stand in need of a Saviour : and if our na- 
tures have contracted a moral taint, we want some being or 
other, to restore our lapsed powers. Fear, dread, and re- 
morse of conscience become us. And not to repent, not to 
be grieved and sorry, not to be possessed with fear, dread, 
remorse, and the like uneasy sensations, is unnatural, and 
infinitely unbecoming our situation. 

But, if we are in want of a Saviour, and if a Saviour has 
been graciously provided for us, it will become us, not only 
to believe in him, but narrowly to examine, under the 
guidance of God's own manifestations, into the nature and 
offices of that Saviour ; and, at the same time, closely to 
consider, in what respects we stand in need of his assistance. 
These two views will have a tendency to throw light upon 
each other. And, if we act a reasonable part, our depen- 
dance upon, and confidence in the Redeemer, will be in 
exact proportion to our own wants, his ability, and the 
knowledge we have of God, the Redeemer, and ourselves. 
For instance, if we think ourselves innocent, the gospel of 
Christ is to us no better than sounding brass and a tink- 
ling cymbal; it is a pretended remedy where there is no 
need. And if we think ourselves, though not innocent, yet 
pretty good, and in no imminent danger of future misery, our 



SECT. I. 



Deity of Jesus. 



3 



love to Christ will be faint, weak, feeble, almost nothing. 
To whom little is forgiven, they will love little. If we are 
convinced of sin, and of our dangerous condition, so far as 
to be weary and distressed with its burden, the news of sal- 
vation by Jesus Christ will be glad tidings of great joy. To 
whom much is forgiven, they will love much. On the 
other hand, if we consider God as a being all mercy, with- 
out any regard to the veracity, justice, and holiness of his 
nature; then Christ will not be so supereminently precious ; 
because we shall not discover either the necessity or fitness 
of his mediation. 

If we look upon our blessed Saviour as a mere man only, 
then we shall esteem him but little more than as Moses, or 
as one of the Prophets. If in short, we consider him at all, 
with regard to his superior nature, as a created being, though 
of the most exalted kind, our regard to him, and esteem for 
him, will be that of one creature to another; consideiable 
indeed, according to the rank he bears ; but far from that 
supreme regard, that unbounded confidence, that match- 
less love, which are due to him, in common with the Father 
and the Holy Ghost. 

From this consideration it may be observed how neces- 
sary it is, that we should have a competent scriptural know- 
ledge of the person and offices of the Redeemer, if we 
would pay unto him a reasonable service. If he is a mere 
man, he ought to be looked upon as such, by all created 
intelligences. If he is but an angel, though of the highest 
order, he ought to be regarded as an angel. He ought not, 
surely, to have religious adoration paid him ; nor is he 
capable, scripture and reason being judge, of making satis- 
faction to divine justice for the sins of the world. 

But, if he is God and man ineffably united in one me- 
diator : if he is " God, of the substance of the Father, 
begotten before the worlds ; and man, of the substance of 
his mother, born in the world : if he is perfect God and per- 
fect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting," 
then only, as it seems to me, he is, and can be, such a 
Redeemer as we stand in need of. Then only he is, in 
common with the Father, the proper object of divine wor- 
ship, prayer, praise, and adoration. And if he is God, equal 

B 2 



4 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PARTI. 



with the Father, and we Christians have in the bible suffi- 
cient evidence of this matter of fact, it must be an inexcusa- 
ble dishonour to his glorious majesty, to demean him to the 
level of a mere man, or to the more exalted rank of an 
angel. If, I say, he is, in his divine nature, equal with the 
Father in majesty, glory and power ; not to honour him 
even as we honour the Father, is, to dethrone him, and, will 
one day be resented by him upon his adversaries. To illus- 
trate my meaning by an historical fact : Maximums, emperor 
©f Rome, no sooner came to the throne, than he adopted 
his son Maximus with him, as partner and emperor, with 
equal power and authority. Let it be supposed, that we, 
being the subjects of Maximinus, refused to pay the same 
respect to Maximus, the son, which we did to; Maximinus, 
the father, under a pretence that there could be but one 
emperor in any one empire : if instead of treating Maximus 
as emperor, we had upon all occasions considered him only 
as an equal, or as the first nobleman in the country : would 
not this have been to degrade him, and to deny the emperor 
of Rome, in a very strong sense ? To have degraded him in 
such a manner would, probably, have mortified him beyond 
forbearance. One may, at least,, venture to assert, that his 
dignity would have been so far affected, as to cause him to 
with-hold future favours from us. And if Maximus's power 
were equal to his inclination, we should have assuredly felt 
the weight of his indignation. Our honouring the father, as 
emperoiv could not make satisfaction for dishonouring the 
son. But if we should go still farther, and instead of treat- 
ing Maximus as emperor of Rome, or as the first nobleman 
in the country, we should have considered him in no higher 
a light than a mere animal, destitute of all moral and reli- 
gious principle ; and, moreover, if we should have used our 
most strenuous endeavours to make all his subjects consider 
him as a being of an inferior order, and unworthy even to 
rank with intelligent creatures, he would have reason to re- 
probate our conduct with still greater severity. 

" In all effects that are voluntary, the cause must be prior 
to the effect ; as the father is to the son, in human genera- 
tion. But in all that are necessary, the effect must be 
co-eval with the cause ; as the stream is with the fountain 
and light with the sun. Had the sun been eternal in 



sect. i. Deity of Jesus. 5 

ks duration, light would have been co-eternal with it. Was 
the fountain from everlasting, the stream would be equally 
from everlasting too. And the Son of God, in the faith and 
confession of the Jews, was the Second Jehovah, or the 
Mediate God of the universe ; an Eternal De-rivation from 
the Eternal Fountain of Deity, an Everlasting De-radiation 
from the Everlasting Sun of Divinity, in God the Father" *» 
- — If we trace the Christian religion, says professor White, 
through the various revolutions of the church, w e shall ob- 
serve two doctrines, which, beyond all the rest, mark with a 
distinguishing lustre the creed which justly deserves the ap- 
pellation of catholic. Explications of those doctrines may 
vary ; but the grand essentials of them seem to be inter- 
woven with the original texture of Christian faith ; I mean 
the doctrines of the Divinity and Atonement of Christ : 
doctrines alike unknown to the Koran of Mahomet, and the 
Creed of Socinus.t 

If then Jesus Christ, in his higher nature, possesses 
divinity; if he is of the same essence with his heavenly 
Father, as every son in this world is of the same nature and 
essence with his earthly parent; and if he hath made satis- 
faction to divine justice for the sins of mankind ; to deny 
that divinity, and to reject that satisfaction ; to deny and 
reject that, in which alone his truest glory consists, and to 
degrade him to the level of a mere man, is, surely, to deny 
the Lord that bought us: And it may be left for every man 
to judge, whether it be not one of those damnable heresies 
spoken of by the apostle of the circumcision J. 

Be this, however, as it may, I must own it has often 
appeared to me, when I have reflected upon these subjects, 
that our blessed Lord, in every age of the Christian church, 
hath clearly shewn his disapprobation of these degrading 
doctrines. For, in What societies soever the divinity of the 
Son and Spirit of God has been rejected, there also hath 
been a visible declension, not only in piety and good morals, 
but usually in the members of such societies, except where 
the officiating minister happens to be a man of very popular 

* Whitaker's Origin of Arianism, p. 175. t Notes to his Sermons, p. 61. 
% See 2 Peter 2. 1—3. and Jude 3, 4. 
B 3 



6 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PART I. 

talents. Let us, moreover, look through the kingdom where 
we please, and attend to the state of the Arian and Socinian 
congregations, and we shall generally, if not universally, 
discover among them, a great want of serious godliness, 
much compliance with the spirit of the world, and a sove- 
reign contempt of all those who embrace the system of 
orthodoxy. As they unanimously treat the Son of God and 
the Holy Spirit, with, comparative contempt ; so the grace 
of that Son, and the communications of that Spirit, without 
which we can do no manner of thing that is good, seem to 
be restrained and with-held from them. And this is per- 
fectly reasonable, if those blessed Persons are treated with 
indignity by them. On the contrary, wherever the orthodox 
principles are plainly and faithfully inculcated, there we see 
the congregations increase, the people are converted from 
the error of their ways, become serious in their spirits, 
moral in their conduct, and, usually, die triumphing in the 
God of their salvation. It is very remarkable too, that when 
Arianism, Sabellianism, and various other erroneous systems, 
had overrun the churches in the fourth, fifth, and sixth cen- 
turies, it pleased God, soon after, to sweep them with the be- 
som of destruction. The barbarous nations broke in upon the 
western churches in the fifth age, and carried slaughter and 
devastation wherever they came. Upon a large part of the 
eastern churches Mahomet came in the seventh age, and 
propagated with fire, sword, and wonderful success, his hor- 
rid delusion. And when the period arrives, that Socinianism 
becomes the prevailing religion of this country, as it shall in 
a little time, if the predictions of some warm contenders for 
it may be credited % iHs exceedingly probable, that the 
indignation of the Almighty, with a flood of vengeance, will 
follow hard after. To illustrate my meaning again by ano- 
ther historical fact : Let it be supposed, that when Cams, 
emperor also of Rome, joined his two sons Carinus and 
Numerianus with him, making them partners in the empire, 
and giving them equal power and authority with himself: 
let it be supposed, I say, that any of their subjects had re- 
jected the authority of either Carinus, or Numerianus, or 
both, under a pretence that Carus was the only proper and 

* See Priestley on the Importance of Free Inquiry, passim. 



SECT. I. 



Deity of Jesus. 



lawful emperor; in such a case, the opposers of their honour 
and dignity could have had no just reason to complain, if 
the two sons should, not only have withheld their favours 
from such refractory subjects, but even have w reaked their 
vengeance upo; them. — The application is obvious. 

Those, who are so zealous in degrading our blessed 
Saviour, bring us several passages of scripture to prove, that 
he is a man, and of consequence, inferior to the Father ; 
such as — There is one God, and one Mediator between 
God and men, the man Christ Jesus: And — God hath 
commanded all men every where to repent ; because he 
hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world 
in righteousness by that man xvhomhehath ordained. Now 
these, and all such like passages, are leally nothing to the 
purpose for which they are brought ; because we ourselves 
also, as earnestly contend as the adversaries to the divinity 
of Jesus, that he is perfect man as well as perfect God *. 
It is absurd, therefore, and disingenuous, to dwell upon this 
while we insist upon the truth and importance of such de- 
clarations as strenuously as they can do. If the adversaries 
of the divinity of Christ would say any thing to the purpose, 
they should show us how all those passages of scripture, 
which speak of him in the highest style of deity, can be 
easily reconciled with those, which speak of his simple 

* If our Saviour be spoken of thus exclusively in his different na- 
tures ; it ought not to be matter of wonder, that this Son of God and 
Son of Man should be described at times, with all that difference of cha- 
racter which subsists, in an infinite degree, between God and man. It 
ought not to be matter of wonder, that he who in the former capacity was 
to make " the dead hear his voice." should in the latter " receive authority to 
execute judgment:" that he, who in the former knew all tilings, should in 
the latter " not know the day and hour, ichen judgment ivas to be executed by 
himself:" that he, whom in the former " no man knoweth but the Father ;" 
should tell the Jews in the latter, that " they Imh knew him, and whence he 
was:" that he by whom as God all things consist should say of himself, as 
man, " and now I am no more in the world." The importance of attending 
to this distinction between our Saviour's natures, may be inferred from 
the question which he himself put- to his insidious enemies, " how Christ 
could be David's Lord, and at the same time his Son!" A question, by 
which they were so affected that, as Matthew declares, no man leasable 
to answer him a word: neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any 
more questions. 

Eveleigh's Two Sermons on the Trinity, p. 56 and 37. 



8 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PART I« 



manhood. Till this be done they must give us leave to 
think, with the church in all ages, that Christ is perfect 
God, and perfect man ;* that the deity and humanity are 
ineffably united in him, as the soul and the body are ineffa- 
bly united in a human being. Upon this supposition, all 
the seeming inconsistences in holy scripture, concerning 
the character of Messiah, vanish, and speak the same har- 
monious truth. 

" Those who deny the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ,' 5 
says a valuable writer, " bring us many passages of scrip- 
ture to prove, that he was a man and inferior to the Father ; 
but these passages are really nothing to their purpose, for 
they do but prove what we v ourselves contend for. We be- 
lieve that the Eternal Word not only took our nature upon 
him, but also, that he sustained the office of Mediator on 
our account; that through his own voluntary condescen- 
sion, he was sent by the Father into the world ; fulfilled 
all righteousness in our nature, and became obedient even 
unto death ; that in consequence of this humiliation, he 
was highly exalted, made head over all things to the church, 
and constituted the judge of quick and dead ; and that, 
finally, when the work for which he undertook the office of 
Mediator shall be fully accomplished, he will then lay aside 
the peculiar dignities of his office, or mediatorial kingdom, 
and reign in the preceding dignity of his nature for ever 
and ever. 

" There is not, therefore, the least contradiction in re- 
presenting Christ as inferior to the Father, with respect to 
his human nature, yet equal to him with respect to his 
divine ; for the different representations, and seeming con- 
tradictions in the scriptural character of our Saviour plainly 
prove, that his compound person partook of natures essen- 
tially different from each other. We use a similar manner 
of speaking with regard to ourselves, and on a similar ac- 

* To reject or disbelieve things, because we understand not the 
whole of their nature, modes of existence, or fitness, is not reason but 
stupidity. It is either to make our minds the rule of truth, or to affirm 
that, because God has not given us all the reasons of things, it is not 
possible there should be any ; both which are equally irrational. Dr. 
Ellis's Knowledge of Divine Things from Revelation, not from Reason 
or Nature, p. 260. 



SECT. I. 



Deity of Jesus, 



9 



count. When a writer calls mankind sometimes mortal, 
sometimes immortal ; at one time corruptible, at another 
incorruptible ; now vile, then precious ; instead of charging 
him with contradictions, we immediately perceive, that he 
has a reference to those totally different substances, a ma- 
terial body and immaterial soul, which are, in an inexplica- 
ble manner, united in us. Let us use the same degree of 
common sense with regard to the scriptures, and all the 
difficulties concerning the character of Christ will vanish. 
There will then appear no contrariety in calling him the 
Son of man, and yet the Lord of glory. Luke 19. 10. — 
1 Cor. 2. 8. But it lies upon those who deny the divinity 
of Christ, to reconcile those passages of scripture, which 
attribute divine perfections to Christ, and speak of him as 
God, with those that are expressive of his inferiority to the 
Father. And till this is satisfactorily done, they must give 
us leave to think, that the former refer to his original na- 
ture, and the latter to his assumed manhood, and mediato- 
rial character ; which appears to me to be the only way of 
reconciling those scriptures that otherwise would be quite 
contradictory " * 

It is not improbable but some persons will be ready to 
say, by way of getting clear of all difficulties in a compen- 
dious manner, suited to their own indolent, or negligent 
state of mind — " It is of little or no importance what we 
think, or what we believe concerning the Redeemer and 
Sanctifier, if we are but virtuous, and charitable." These 
qualifications are, beyond doubt, essential parts of the 
character of a believer in the Son of God ; but yet 
they are not the whole of it. If the Son and Spirit are by 
nature possessed of divinity, they ought to be worshipped. 
If they are not by nature possessed of divinity, they ought 
not to be worshipped. If they are not by nature possessed 
of divinity, our religious worship is full of gross idolatry. 

6 f The essence of natural religion may be said to consist 
in religious regards to God the Father Almighty : and the 

* See an excellent tract written by Mr. Hey, of Leeds, entitled, 
" A short Defence of the Doctrine of the Divinity of Christ," which is 
worthy the attention of the public. It is designed as an antidote to 
some small pieces published by Dr. Priestley against our Lord's 
Divinity. 



I'O MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PART I. 

essence of revealed religion, as distinguished from natural, 
to consist in religious regards to the Son, and to the Holy 
Ghost. And the obligations we are under, of paying these 
religious regards to each of these Divine Persons respective- 
ly, arises from the respective relations, which they each 
stand in to us. How these relations are made known, whe- 
ther by reason or revelation, makes no alteration in the 
case ; because the duties arise out of the relations them- 
selves, not out of the manner in which we are informed of 
them. The Son and Spirit have each his proper office, in 
that great dispensation of Providence, the redemption of 
the world ; the one our Mediator, the other our Sanctifier. 
Does not then the duty of religious regards to both these 
Divine Persons, as immediately arise to the view of reason, 
out of the very nature of these offices and relations ; as the 
inward good will and kind intention, which we owe to our 
fellow-creatures, arise out of the common relations between 
us and them ? But it will be asked, what are the inward 
religious regards, appearing thus obviously due to the Son 
and Holy Spirit, as arising not merely from command in 
scripture, but from the very nature of the revealed relations, 
which they stand in to us ? I answer, the religious regards 
of reverence, honour, love, gratitude, fear, hope. In what 
external manner this inward worship is to be expressed, is a 
matter of pure revealed command ; as perhaps the external 
manner, in which God the Father is to be worshipped, may 
be more so than we are ready to think. But the worship, 
the internal worship itself, to the Son and Holy Ghost, is 
no farther matter of pure revealed command, than as the 
reladons they stand in to us, are matter of pure revelation : 
for the relations being known, the obligations to such inter- 
nal worship are obligations of reason, arising out of those 
relations themselves. In short, the history of the gospel as 
immediately shows us the reason of these obligations, as it 
shows us the meaning of the words, Son and Holy 
Ghost."* 

The unity of God is a first principle in all true religion, 
whether natural or revealed. The scripture is full of it. — 



* Butler's Analogy, part 2. chap. 1. 



SECT. I. 



Deity of Jesus, 



Thou shalt have none other Gods but me,* — Unto thee it 
was showed, that thou ?nightest know that the Lord he is 
God, there is none else besides him. Know therefore this 
day and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God 
in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath; there is 
none else. — Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. 
— See now that I, even I am he, and there is no God with 
me. — There is none besides thee. — Who is God save the 
Lord, and who is a rock save our God f — Thou, even 
thou, art Lord alone.— Thou art God alone. — Before 
thee there ivas no God fanned, neither shall there be any 
after thee. — Is there a God besides me ? Yea, there is 
no God. I know not any. — ■/ am the Lord, and there is 
none else ; there is no God besides me. — / am God and 
there is none like me ; before me there teas no God form- 
ed, neither shall there be after me. — Thou shalt worship 
the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 

The first and fundamental principle of religion then is, 
that there is a God. The second, that there is but one 
living and true God. And the third, that religious worship, 
and divine honours, are to be paid to this one living and 
true God alone. Either therefore the Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost, in the true scriptural sense of the words, are 
this one living and true God, though in a way inexplicable 
by us, or else we transgress these fundamental laws of na- 
ture, and of God, every time we pray and, ascribe glory to 
either the Son or the Holy Spirit. 

This being, confessedly, the real state of the case, it no 
longer remains, I should think, a matter of indifference, 
whether side of the question we take. The doctrine of the 
divinity of Christ, and the blessed Spirit, is by no means 
that speculative and insignificant thing some would persuade 
us it is. It seems rather to enter most essentially into the 
whole scheme of redemption. All the other doctrines of 
the gospel depend upon it. 

* One considerable objection against the Arian scheme, is, that it 
stands in opposition to the first and great commandment ; introducing 
two Gods, and two objects of worship ; not only against scripture, but 
also against the unanimous sense of the Christian church, from the begin- 
ning, and of the Jewish before ; which together are the safest and best 
comment we can have upon scripture. Water-land's . Eight Sermons, 
preface, p. 30. 



1>2 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PART I. 

" The divinity of Christ is a scripture truth as much as 
the divinity of the Father ; and one is no more a metaphy- 
sical speculation than the other. Besides that, it is strangely 
improper and absurd to call these principles pure specula- 
tions, which are of so great importance for the regulating 
our worship, that we can neither omit to worship Christ, if 
they are true, without the greatest impiety ; nor perform it, 
if they are false, without being guilty of idolatry.*" 

" Many apprehend the doctrine of the Trinity to be what 
is called a speculative doctrine only, that is to say, a doc- 
trine concerning 4 which men may think, and conjecture, 
and reason, and dispute for their amusement, but of no 
effect or importance in a religious life. This is a consider- 
able mistake in judgment ; and to prove that it is so, let us 
only ask one question : — What is the doctrine of most im- 
portance to man, in his religious concerns ? Undoubtedly, 
it is that of his redemption from sin and sorrow, from death 
and hell, to righteousness and joy, immortality and glory. 
But of such redemption what account do the scriptures give 
us ? By whom was the gracious scheme originally concerted, 
and afterwards carried into execution ? Was it not by the 
three persons of the ever-blessed and adorable Trinity ? — 
It was not an after- thought, a new design, formed upon 
the transgression and fall of our first parents. That event 
was foreseen, and provision made accordingly : for upon the 
very best authority we are informed, that Christ was the 
Lamb slain from the foundation of the ivorld ; that is, 
(for it cannot be otherwise understood,) slain in effect, in 
the divine purpose and counsel. It is likewise said, that 
grace was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world 
began. The words intimate, that, previous to the creation 
of the world, something had passed in our favour above; 
that the plan of our future redemption was then laid; that 
some agreement, some covenant, relative to it, had been 
entered into : grace was given us, not in our proper 
persons, for as yet we were not — we had no being — but in 
the person of him who was afterwards to become our repre- 
sentative, our Saviour — in Christ Jesus, Now the plan 
must have been laid, the covenant entered into, by the par- 



* Waterland' s Eight Sermons, preface, p. 26. 



SECT. I. 



Deity of Jesus. 



13 



ties who have been since graciously pleased to concern them- 
selves in its execution. Who these are we cannot be igno- 
rant. It was the Son of God who took our nature upon 
him, and in that nature made a full and sufficient oblation, 
satisfaction, and atonement, for the sins of the world. It 
was the Father who accepted such oblation, satisfaction, 
and atonement, and in consequence forgave those sins. It 
was the Holy Spirit, who came forth from the Father and 
the Son, through the preaching of the word, and the admi- 
nistration of the sacraments, by his enlightening, healing, 
and comforting grace, to apply to the hearts of men, for all 
the purposes of pardon, sanctification, and salvation, the 
merits and benefits of that oblation, satisfaction, and atone- 
ment. Say no more then, that the doctrine of the Trinity 
is a matter of curiosity and amusement only. Our religion 
is founded upon it : for what is Christianity, but a manifes- 
tation of the three divine persons as engaged in the great 
work of man's redemption, begun, continued, and to be 
ended by them, in their several relations of Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost, Creator, Redeemer, and Sanetifier; three 
persons, one God ? If there be no Son of God, where is 
our redemption ? If there be no Holy Spirit, where is our 
sanctification ? Without both, where is our salvation ? 
And if these two persons be any thing less than divine, why 
are we baptized, equally, in the name of the Father, and of 
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ? Let no man therefore 
deceive you : This is the true God, and eternal life"* 

" The divinity of Jesus,' 1 says Dr. Hawker, " I con- 
ceive to be the chief corner-stone in the edifice of Christi- 
anity. Remove this from the building and the whole fabric 
immediately totters. The foundation is shaken to the very 
centre. There appears at once an evident disproportion 
between the end and the means, the importance of the ob- 
ject proposed, and the person by whom it was accomplished. 
And then the great doctrine of atonement and expiation, 
by the blood of its author, and all the rich promises of the 
gospel, are done away." f 

* Bishop Home's Discourse on the Trinity, p. 43 — 45. See also 
Trapp on the Trinity, p. 4—6. t Sermon on the Divinity of Christ, 
page 8, 



14 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS, PART I. 



" The faith of the holy Trinity is so fundamental to the 
Christian religion, that if Christianity be worth contending 
for, that is. For if God have not an eternal Son, and an 
eternal Spirit, the whole mystery of our redemption by 
Christ, and of our sanctiflcation by the Spirit, which in its 
consequences is the whole of the gospel, and distinguishes 
it from all other religions, is utterly lost :"* and we are re- 
duced again to a mere system of moral philosophy. 

We acknowledge, indeed, and glory in the truth, that 
the gospel contains a system of moral philosophy, and the 
most perfect, by many degrees, with which the world was 
ever favoured. The morality of the gospel of Christ, says 
Locke, doth so excel that of other books, that to give a man 
a full knowledge of morality, he need read no other book 
but the New Testament : but we insist upon it, as a truth 
of all conceivable importance, that it contains far more ; 
that it opens a new and living way, whereby sinners may be 
reconciled unto God, through the alone mediation of his 
only-begotten Son. And the divine origin of it is displayed 
by its wonderful suitableness to the situation of man. All 
that he wants it contains. Not that it is designed to bring 
about infallibly the salvation of the whole human race, nei- 
ther the salvation of all those who come within the sound of 
it. Rather, it is intended as a scheme of redemption for 
curable dispositions only. And therefore God hath afford- 
ed us all the evidence of its veracity that his wisdom saw 
needful for such dispositions, rather than all the evidence 
his power might have afforded for the conviction of the 
careless, obstinate, high-minded, and conceited inquirers 
after truth. And, in pursuance of this design, its doctrines 

* Sherlock's Socinian Controversy, p. 1. 

Let the Reader, who has any doubts upon his mind concerning the 
Importance of the doctrine of the Trinity, read carefully Bishop Bull's 
Judgment of the Catholic Church of the three first centuries, concerning 
the necessity of believing, that our Lord Jesus Christ is the true God, 
and Dr. Waterland's Importance of the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity, 
and he will receive all the satisfaction he can reasonably expect or 
desire. The Socinians pretend to despise these books. They do well. 
It is much easier to pretend to despise such authors, than to answer 
them. 



SECT. I. 



Deity of Jesus. 



15 



are admirably calculated to try the obedience of our under- 
standing, as its precepts that of our will. Dr. Watts 
has the same idea : — ?« It is as possible," he says, " and as 
proper, that God should propose doctrines to our under- 
standing, which it cannot comprehend, as duties to our 
practice, which we cannot see the reason of; for he is 
equally superior to our understanding and will, and he puts 
the obedience of both to a trial."* 

Lord Bacon speaks to the same purpose : " The prero- 
gative of God/' says this great man, " comprehends the 
whole man ; and is extended, as well to the reason, as to 
the will of man : that is, that man renounce himself wholly, 
and draw near to God. Wherefore, as we are to obey his 
law, though we find a reluctation in our will ; so we are to he- 
lieve his wordy though we find a reluctation in our reason : 
for if we believe only that which is agreeable to our reason, 
we assent to the mattery not to the author, which is no 
more than we would do towards a suspected and discredited 
witness. — Sacred theology is grounded on, and must be de- 
duced from, the Oracles of God ; and not from the light of 
nature, or the dictates of reason. — 2b the law and to the 
testimony : if they speak not according to this wordy it is 
because there is no light i?i them."f 

Now, as man consists of two distinct, yet essential 
parts, so the vices to which we are prone respect both these 
parts of our constitution. For we may be very free from the 
vices peculiar to the body, and yet extremely addicted to 
those of the mind. The former are more peculiar to the 
vulgar, the latter to the learned and philosophic part of our 
race. By subjection to the one, we resemble the brute 
creation ; by obedience to the other, the apostate spirits. 
We ought, therefore, to be serious, and lay aside all pride 
and conceitedness in our understanding, as well as super- 
fluity of naughtiness in our passions, and attend with humi- 
lity and prayer to the things which God hath revealed con- 
cerning himself. The truths of his word are sufficiently 
plain to the humble and sincere inquirer; but there is 
obscurity enough to baffle and confound the most enlarged 

* Appendix to Watt's life by Johnson and Palmer, p, 120. 
t Advancement of Learning, p. 468. 



16 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. *' PART. I. 



minds of those, who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent 
in their own conceits. Clouds and darkness are round 
about him, though righteousness and equity are the habita- 
tion of his throne. — None of the wicked shall understand ; 
but the wise shall understand. — The meek will he guide in 
judgment, and the meek will he learn his ivay. — And God 
said, Go and tell this people, who are proud, wicked, con- 
ceited, and self-righteous, Hear ye indeed, but understand 
not ; and see ye indeed, but perceive not : make the heart 
of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut 
their eyes; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear 
ivith their ears, and understand with their heart, and con- 
vert, and be healed. 

All these scriptures were most awfully fulfilled, when 
our Saviour was upon earth. The modest inquirers after 
truth arrifong the Jews sufficiently discovered, from the 
writings of Moses and the Prophets, that he was the true | 
Messiah. But yet, it is a notorious fact, that the bulk of 
the people, and especially the more learned and polite part 
of the nation, rejected him as an impostor and deceiver. 
They did not reject him for want of evidence that he was 
the Messiah ; for there was evidence enough to satisfy any 
impartial inquirer; but they rejected him through pride of 
heart, and carnal views and expectations. They approved 
not his appearance and pretensions. His views were 
upon another world, theirs were upon this.; and therefore 
they rejected him without faithfully examining whether he 
were the Christ or not. In vain did our blessed Saviour 
reason, expostulate, and appeal to his own miracles, and their 
sacred writings. They had made up their minds ; and he 
must either erect a worldly standard, or he shall not be 
Christ. Instead of learning from the scripture what the 
character of Messiah was to be, they brought their own 
erroneous ideas to the word of God, and were determined it 
should speak their language. No evidence was sufficient. 
Lazarus is raised from the dead before their eyes. No; this 
will not do. Rather than give credit to his mission, both 
Lazarus and Christ must be put to death. Not so, however, 
Nicodemus, Nathaniel, Joseph of Arimathea, and other 
pious Jews; they were sincere, upright, humble men; they 
patiently examined into the nature of his doctrine and pre- 



SECT. I. 



Deity of Jesus. 



17 



tensions ; and they saw and believed. All the rest of the 
nation, with a few other exceptions, God gave up to judicial 
blindness and hardness of heart. The consequence was, 
they rejected him who alone was able to save them. They 
imprecated his blood upon their own guilty heads; and 
they died in their sins, under every possible mark of the 
divine displeasure *. 



* Consult Jones on the Trinity, preface, p. 21—31, 



18 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS* 



PART i, 



PART FIRST. 

— + — 

SECTION H. 

THE UNITY OF THE DIVINE ESSENCE AND PLURALITY OF 
PERSONS IN THE GODHEAD. 



Fletcher's irresistible reasoning against Dr. Priestley.— 
Dangerous opinions. — Pernicious influence of Soci- 
nianism. — Doctrine of the Trinity not a speculative 
doctrine. — The belief of it compatible with reason. — 
Illustrations of the doctrine. — Leslie's summary of 
reasoning upon the doctrine of the Trinity. 

We may have abundant evidence, in the word of God, 
concerning the unity of nature and plurality of persons in 
the Godhead *, and yet through inattention, pride of under- 
standing t> affectation of singularity, and their dreadful con- 

* The doctrine of the Trinity is an imperfect discovery, not a contra- 
diction. See Horsley's Tracts, p. 70. 

t There is a little cheap pamphlet, said to be written by Mr. Jones, 
author of the Catholic Doctrine of a Trinity, entitled, A Preservative 
against the Publications dispersed by modern Socinians, which I would 
wish to be in the hands of every person whose mind is conversant in these 
speculations. I don't know that every position in the book is strictly de- 
fensible ; but upon the whole, I think, it is well suited to counteract the 
ill tendency of those writings it is designed to oppose. Dr. Priestley has 
animadverted upon one or two passages in this little work, and shown the 
rashness of an assertion, and the weakness of the reasoning in those para- 
graphs. And in my judgment the Doctor has very justly reproved the 
author in those particular instances. But then it does not follow, that 
because he has given a very fair answer to one or two ef the weakest 
arguments in a book, that he has given a satisfactory reply to the more 
substantial and important parts, In like manner, the Doctor has answered 
the same Mr. Jones's Catholic Doctrine of the Trinity. He has given us 
some strictures upon a few of the looser and more feeble conclusions of the 
book, and then he would make the inattentive reader believe he has sub- 
verted the whole. This is a very unfair mode of proceeding. A generous 
adversary would attack a few, at least, of the strongest positions of his 
antagonist, and leave the other to fall by their own weight. 

In the same mode of proceeding, it is a very easy matter to answer the 
most conclusive book that ever was written. 



SECT. 2. 



The Trinity. 



19 



sequence, judicial blindness, we may reject the evidence, 
despise, ridicule and sneer at the doctrine, and die in our 
sins. 

Obloquy and ridicule, says Bishop Horsley, seem to be 
the trials which God hath appointed, instead of persecution 
in the present age, to prove the sincerity and patience of the 
faithful. The advocate of that sound form of words, which 
was originally delivered to the saints, hath to expect that his 
opinions will be the open jest of the Unitarian party : that 
his sincerity will be called in question ; or if a bare possi- 
bility of his being in earnest be charitably admitted, the 
misfortune of his education will be lamented and his pre- 
judices deplored. All this insult will not alarm nor discom- 
pose him. He will rather glory in the recollection, that his 
adherence to the faith of the first ages hath provoked it. 
The conviction, which he will all the while enjoy, that his 
philosophy is Plato's, and his creed John's, will alleviate the 
mortification he might otherwise feel in differing from Dr. 
Priestley ; nor suffer him to think the evil insupportable, 
although the consequence of this dissent should be, that he 
must share with the excellent Bishop of Worcester, in Dr. 
Priestley's pity and indignation *. 

But amidst all such proud and inveterate hostility we 
should be more serious and earnest in our inquiries, and 
betake ourselves to the word of God with deeper humility 
and greater ardour of zeal; we should lift up our hearts 
to the fountain of light for that wisdom which is profitable 
to direct, submitting our reason to the sovereign dictates of 
revelation ; and not only be careful to learn the will of God, 
but, when we have learnt it, faithfully and honestly practise 
it : that so we may expect, according to a variety of scrip- 
ture declarations, to be led into all truth. 

Dr. Priestley in his controversy on the Trinity takes for 
granted and lays it down as a first principle, that the doc- 
trines of the Trinity and Atonement are impossible, and 
such as no miracles can prove ; and then he proceeds to 
mangle and distort the holy scriptures, to make them speak 
a language agreeable to the notions he has formed, to the 



* Tracts p. 72» 



20 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PART I. 

utter subversion of common sense. The Doctor is certainly 
a very laborious and ingenious man, and, upon some sub- 
jects, has few equals : but ingenious men have sometimes 
strange whims, and render themselves extremely ridiculous. 
This is the case with the learned Gentleman in question. 
Few writers, perhaps, have been so glaringly inconsistent 
with themselves as he has been. And the late Mr. Fletcher, 
vicar of Madely, hath set his inconsistencies in a very strik- 
ing point of view. — It is one of the loudest dictates of 
7*eason, says this truly pious author, that, as we cannot grasp 
the universe with our hands, so we cannot comprehend the 
Maker of the universe with our thoughts. 

Nevertheless, a set of men, who make much ado about 
reason, after they have candidly acknowledged their igno- 
rance, wirh regard to the Divine Nature, are so inconsistent 
as to limit God, and to insinuate that he can exist only 
according to their shallow, dark, and short-sighted ideas. 
Hence it is, thai, if he speaks of his Essence otherwise than 
they have conceived it to be, they either reject hjs revela- 
tion or so wrest and distort it, as to force it to speak their 
preconceived notions; in direct opposition to the plain 
meaning of the words, to the general tenor of the scriptures, 
to the consent of the catholic church in all ages, and to the 
very form of their own baptism. 

Is not the learned Dr. Priestley a striking instance of this 
unphilosophical conduct? Great philosopher in natural 
things, does he not forget himself in things divine ? Candid 
reader, to your unprejudiced reason we make our appeal. 
With a wisdom worthy of a Christian sage, he speaks thus, in 
his Disquisitions on Matter and Spirit: Of the substance of 
the Deity, we have no idea at all; and therefore, all 
that we can conceive or pronounce, concerning it, must 
be merely hypothetical*: — But has he behaved con- 
sistently with this reasonable acknowledgment ? And may 
we not, upon his just concession, raise the following query 2 

When a Doctor has granted that we have no idea at all 
of the Divine Substance, fyc. is he not both inconsistent 
and unreasonable, if, so far from pronouncing hypotheticalty 
concerning it, he absolutely declares, that the Divine Sub- 



*P. 109 ,110, 



SECT. 2. 



The Trinity, 



21 



stance, of which he has no idea at all, is incompatible 
with the three Divine Substances, which the scripture calls 
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost ? But Dr. 
Priestley, after having granted the former proposition in 
his Disquisitions, absolutely renounces the latter in his Cor- 
ruptions of Christianity. Is not, therefore, Dr. Priestley 
both inconsistent and unreasonable ? — 

The learned Doctor, continuing to speak as a true philo- 
sopher, says, We know there must be a first cause, because 
things do actually exist, and could never have existed without 
a cause, and all secondary causes necessarily lead us to a 
primary one. But of the nature of the existence of this 
primary cause concerning which we know nothing but by 
its effects, we cannot have any conception. We are abso- 
lutely confounded, bewildered, and lost, when we attempt to 
speculate concerning it. This speculation is attended with 
insuperable difficulties. Every description of the Divine 
Being in the New Testament gives us an idea of something 
filling and penetrating all things, and therefore of no known 
mode of existence *. 

Upon these second concessions, we raise this second 
argument. A Doctor, who grants that we know nothing of 
the first cause but by its effects, that we have no conception 
of its nature, that it has no known mode of existence, and 
that this speculation is attended with insuperable difficul- 
ties — must have an uncommon share of assurance, or in- 
attention, if he pretend to argue the Catholic Church out of 
the belief of the Trinity, because we have no clear concep- 
tion of its nature, because it has no known mode of existence, 
and because, in our present state, the speculation of it is 
attended with some insuperable difficulties. But Dr. 
Priestley has made all these fair concessions in his Disqui- 
sitions, and yet he pretends to argue us out of our faith in 
the Trinity, because we have no clear conception of its 
nature, &c. Hath not, therefore, the Doctor an uncommon 
share of assurance, or of inattention ? 

Continuing to speak like a Christian philosopher, he says, 
' In two circumstances that we do know, and probably in 
many others, of which we have no knowledge at all, the 



* P. Ill, 146 

c 3 



22 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



PART I. 



human and Divine Nature, finite and infinite Intelligence, 
most essentially differ. The first is, that our attention is 
necessarily confined to one thing, whereas he who made, 
and continually supports all things, must equally attend to 
all things at the same time ; which is a most astonishing, 
but necessary attribute of the one supreme God, of which 
we can form no conception, and consequently, in this re- 
spect no finite mind can be compared with the Divine/ 
Again, 6 the Deity not only attends to every thing, but must 
be capable of either producing or annihilating any thing : 
so that, in this respect also, the Divine Nature must 
be essentially different from ours. — There is, therefore, 
upon the whole, manifold reason to conclude, that the 
Divine Nature or Essence, besides being simply unknown 
to us, has properties most essentially different from every 
thing else. God is, and every must remain, the Incompre- 
hensible *\ 

Upon this set of unavoidable concessions, made by Dr. 
P. we raise this third argument. A philosopher who grants 
that God is the Incomprehensible — that human and Divine 
Nature (of consequence human and Divine Personality) 
most essentially differ — and that the Divine Essence has 
properties most essentially different from every thing else : 
A Philosopher, I say, who publicly grants this, must be one 
of the most prejudiced of all men, if he rejects the sacred 
Trinity, into whose name he was baptized, because the 
Trinity is in some sense incomprehensible, and because he 
insists that three Divine Persons must be divided and sepa- 
rated like three human persons ; just as if he did not him- 
self maintain, that the Divine Essence, or Personality, hath 
properties most essentially different from men, angels, and 
every thing else. 

We shall produce but one more set of the philosophical 
concessions, of which Dr. P. loses sight in his theological 
works. 

In the first place, says he, c It must be confessed, with 
awful reverence, that we know but little of ourselves, and 
therefore much less of our Maker, even with respect to his 
attributes. We know but little of the works of God, and 



* P. 106, 107, 108. 



SECT. 2. 



The Trinity, 



23 



therefore certainly much less of his Essence. In fact, we 
have no proper idea of any essence whatever. It will 
hardly be pretended that we have any proper idea of the 
substance even of matter, considered as divested of all its 
properties * 

From these last concessions, and from the tenor of Dr. 
Priestley's Corruptions, it appears, that men, who confess they 
know little of God's works, and less of his Essence ; and who 
have not even any proper idea of the essence of a straw, pre- 
tend, nevertheless, to know clearly what is inconsistent with 
the Divine Essence ; insomuch, that setting up as reformers 
of the three creeds, they try to turn the doctrine of the 
Trinity out of the church, and the Lamb of God from his 
divine and everlasting throne. 

Nov/ is not this as absurd, as if they said to the Catholics, 
We have indeed been all baptized in the name of the God 
of the Christians, that is, in the name of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: — but we new Gnostics, 
we modern Reformers, who know nothing of the Father's 
essence, or even of the essence of an insect — we are never- 
theless so perfectly acquainted with the Divine Essence, as 
to decide, that it is absolutely inconsistent with the nature of 
the Father., to have a living Word, or a proper Son, and a 
rational Spirit ; and, therefore, reforming our God himself, 
we strike the Word and the Holy Ghost out of the number 
of the Divine Persons, whom at our baptism we vowed to 
serve jointly forever. 

O ye Philosophers of the age, can men of sense admire 
your philosophy, any more than men of faith admire your 
orthodoxy ? May we not hope, that, when the blunders of 
your Logic are brought to light, they will be a proper anti- 
dote for the poison of your errors ? And will your admirers 
be still so inattentive, as not to see, that your capital objec- 
tions against the Trinity are sufficiently answered by apply- 
ing to them the short reply you make on another occasion, 
This is an argument which derives all its force from oar 
ignorance f f 

Some modern authors, of considerable name, have at- 

* P. 103, 104. 

t Fletcher's Vindication, of the Catholic Faith, published since his 
<skath by Mr. Joseph Benson. 



24 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



PART 1. 



tempted to prove, that all the scripture requires in order to 
our acceptance with God, is, to believe that Jesus is the 
Messiah, and to obey his moral precepts * : But there ap- 
pears to be dangerous fallacy in their reasoning. For, to 
believe this single proposition, that Jesus is the Messiah, 
implies a belief also of all that Jesus and his Apostles both 
did and taught. And we can no more with safety reject 
their doctrines than their mission. From the truth of their 
mission we must infer the truth of what they taught. And 
professedly to reject any part of the latter, is, virtually to 
reject the former. 

Now, it is certain, that if we credit the writings of the 
Apostles, we must suppose there are several opinions de- 
structive, as well as absolute infidelity. And, moreover, it 
very frequently happens, that erroneous principles beget 
erroneous practices. Impure fountains cannot send forth 
pellucid streams. From the very infancy of Christianity 
this observation was strongly exemplified in the various errors 
that arose among those who were professed believers in Christ 
Jesus. He was aware of the growth of noxious weeds, and 
cautioned his followers against them. Beware of false 
prophets, said he, which come to you in sheeps clothing, 
but inwardly they are ravelling wolves. Ye shall know them 
by their fruits. The Apostles likewise frequently do the 
same. And, according to their predictions, whole shoals of 
erroneous opinions broke in upon the church, even in its 
earliest days. Simon Magus, the first author of all heresy, 
fell from the christian faith almost as soon as he had em- 
braced it, Hymeneus and Philetus denied the resurrec- 
tion f. Others, whom the Apostles have not pointed out 
by name in the sacred writings, maintained the necessity of 

* See Priestley's Importance of Free Inquiry, passim. 

Dr. Fiddes very justly observes, that an assent to that one article 
(namely that Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah) was/in effect, and 
implicity,an assent to all which that article contained; the whole Chris- 
tian religion. Body of Divinity, vol. I. p. 407. 

t The resurrection of the body is what no force of human wisdom 
could have discovered ; yet reason tells us it is possible, and within the 
power of God to effect it ; therefore the understanding may fully assent 
to it, without knowing the bounds of Omnipotence, or in what manneiv 
lie will accomplish and bring it to pass. 

EHis's Knowledge of Divine Things, p. 261. 



SECT. 2. 



The Trinity. 



25 



circumcision, and of observing the law of Moses. Others 
maintained that Jesus Christ had not come in the flesh ; 
that is, had not assumed a real body and soul. Others denied 
Jesus to be the Christ, or the begotten Son of God : saying 
that Jesus was a mere man, on whom the Christ descended 
when he was baptized by John in the river Jordan. All 
these, and their doctrines, are spoken of, and reprobated by 
the Apostles in different places of the New Testament; 
some are declared to be accursed ; others are called seducers 
and antichrists ; and of all of them in general, and particu- 
larly of the professors of the two latter heresies, John says, 
They went out from us, but they were not of us ; for if 
they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued 
with us: but they went out, that they might be made 
manifest that they were not all of us*. Hence, I think, 
it appears as clear as any proposition in Euclid, that some 
doctrines are fundamental, as well as certain practices, and 
that the belief of them is as necessary to salvation, as obe- 
dience to the moral precepts of the gospel. Indeed, without 
true faith there can be no legitimate practice, any more 
than an effect without a cause. 

Irenaeus was a learned and pious bishop in the second 
century, and wrote five books upon the heresies which had 
prevailed from the origin of Christianity to his own times. 
I have often thought, that we should be extremely careful 
how we admit any religious principles which he denies, or 
deny any which he admits. Now, it is very certain, that he 
ranks the Ebionites among the heretics of former times, and 
therefore, were he living now, he would consider the Soci- 
nians in the same light ; for they are in the present day, 
what the Ebionites were of old. Dr. Priestley, indeed, gets 
over this difficulty with the greatest ease imaginable, as he 
does over every other. Difficulties insuperable to others 
are none to him. Mountains shall be plains, or plains shall 
be mountains, as suits his convenience. Facts, however, 
are stubborn things. And if Irenaeus does really rank the 
Ebionites in his catalogue of heretics, Dr. Priestley's deny- 
ing it, or setting light by his judgment, will be of little ; 
avail. Let the reader then judge what the good old Bishop 



Barnard's Letters to Dr. Priestley, preface, p. t and 2. 



26 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



PART I. 



and glorious Martyr's opinion was, from the extracts he will 
find out of his writings in a subsequent part of this work. 

One great objection which I have long had to the prin- 
ciples of our modern Socinians *, is, that they marvellously 
debase the Christian scheme. Socinianism cuts to the very 

* The Socinians frequently make their boast of Dr. Clarke, as though 
he were a favourer of their scheme ; whereas it is well known, that he Avas 
no friend to their degrading doctrines. He held both the reality of the 
Trinity and the Atonement, though not exactly in the orthodox sense. 
And speaking of our modem Ebionites he says : — The Socinian writers 
have very unreasonably presumed to collect, that our Saviour was no 
greater a person than a mere man born of the virgin Mary without any 
former existence, and exalted by the power of God to this state of dignity 
in heaven. But this their inference, I say, is very unreasonable; for 
though the derivation of our Lord's power from the Father, must and 
ought to be acknowledged ; that all men's confessing Jesus to be Lord 
may be to the glory of God the Father ; yet from those other texts of 
scripture, wherein it is affirmed, that by Christ God created all things ; 
that he was in the form of God, before he appeared in the form of a servant ; 
that he was with God, and had glory with God before the world was; 
from these texts, I say, it undeniably appears, that our Lord's having all 
power given him both in heaven and earth, cannot signify the original 
exaltation of one who had no being before he was born of the Virgin ; but 
the exaltation of him into the form of God, who voluntarily emptied 
himself of that glory he had before, and with unparalleled humility took 
upon himself the form of a servant, and suffered in that form for our sakes, 
and therefore was worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and 
strength and honour and glory and blessing, because he was slain, and re- 
deemed us to God by his own blood, out of every tongue and kindred and people 
and nation. 

Grotius too is frequently mentioned as a great champion for the 
Socinian cause; but without any just reason : for both in his Catechism 
and Poems, as well as in his Comment on the first chapter of John, he 
declares his faith in the Holy Trinity, in as ample a manner as any man 
can reasonably desire. Let the reader consult his writings, especially 
the three places just mentioned, and Stillingfleet on the Trinity, pages 
137—143, where he is sufficiently vindicated from the charge of Soci- 
nianism. 

Sir Isaac Newton is likewise oftentimes named as a favourer of the 
same scheme ; for no other reason, I suppose, but because he wrote against 
the authenticity of the famous verse in the first Epistle of John. We are 
informed, however, in the Critical Review for September 1790, on the 
Religious Sentiments of Laymen, that the Arians and Socinians have each 
claimed Sir Isaac Newton as their own ; but Whiston has told us, con- 
tinues the Reviewer, that Sir Isaac was irreconcilably angry with him 
because he said that he was an Arian. 

Milton, Watts, and Locke have sometimes been claimed as patrons of 
Socinianism; but without any just foundation. Indeed, those who can 
rank John and Paul in that degrading list, will have little difficulty in 
claiming any other writers whom they may think an honour to their 
©pinions. For a vindication of Milton from the charge of Socinianism, 



SECT. 2. 



The Trinity. 



n 



root of all that is distinguishing in the gospel. It destroys 
the necessity, and even the importance of a miraculous 
interposition, and gives the infidel too great reason to ex- 
claim, that all that was extraordinary was superfluous ; and 
that the apparatus was too expensive and too splendid for 
the purposes to which it was applied.* 

The salvation of man is constantly represented in holy 
scripture as something infinitely important, and the means 
for procuring that salvation as being equally so. All the 
Patriarchs and Prophets, with the whole Jewish economy 
of types and shadows were preparatory to the Messiah's 
advent ; and all the angels in heaven administered to the 
great design, lost in astonishment at the Divine proceed- 
ings. This apparatus appears to me by far too splendid and 
magnificent, if our blessed Saviour were nothing more than 
a mere man. All the infinite glory of the gospel scheme 
vanishes ; the scriptures, which I used to consider as the 
word of God, and replete with wisdom worthy of their Au- 
thor, lose their majesty, and seem calculated rather to mis- 
lead than inform. I conclude, therefore, that the principles 
of Socinus and his followers are false and dangerous, and 
highly unworthy the espousal of men, who are concerned 
for the honour of God, and the advancement of true reli- 
gion. 

" All the mysteries of the New Testament are pure and 
noble, august and becoming the majesty of the God of gods. 
The venerable mysteries of the incarnation, the sacred Tri- 
nity, the resurrection and glorification of human bodies, are 
not vain speculations to amuse the fancy ; but are the es- 
sential doctrines and fundamentals of the purest religion in 
the world ; that are graciously designed and directly tend 
to improve the understanding, and rectify the will, to raise 

see Burgh's Sequel, p. 262—266. For a vindication of Watts, see the 
Rev. Samuel Palmer's account of his last sentiments on the Trinity in 
Dr. Johnson's Life of Watts, with Notes, p. 42—112. And for a vindi- 
cation of Locke, see his own Second Vindication of the Reasonableness 
of Christianity, p. 668, where he tells us, that it is very hard for a Chris- 
tian, who reads the scripture with attention, and an unprejudiced mind, 
to deny the satisfaction of Christ ; a' position utterly inconsistent with 
every idea of Socinianism. 

* Professor White's Notes to his excellent Sermons, p. 68. 



28 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PART I. 



gratitude, and all duty and devout affections to God. They 
have a certain and full influence on the present and future 
happiness of mankind. It is observable that in the Epistles 
that treat most fully and magnificently of the sublime doc- 
trines and awful objects of our faith, there is always in the 
conclusion a choice collection of morals and sound precepts 
of pure life ; which are the true consequences of those most 
lofty and venerable truths and essentials of the Christian 
creed. Those awful and venerable secrets, which the angels 
desire to look into, are by free-thinkers, and profane pre- 
tenders to philosophy, made to be no secrets at all ; and so 
the majesty of the thoughts of the sacred writers, and the 
propriety and nobleness of their language are debased, and, 
comparatively, sunk into meanness and contempt. The 
goodness of God the Father, and the condescension ot our 
Saviour in redeeming the human race, are depreciated, and 
infinitely undervalued ; and by consequence, the obligations 
of mankind to love, obedience, and gratitude for infinite 
mercies, are horridly weakened and lessened. Ill principles 
and heretical depravations of the gospel mysteries naturally 
tend to vice and corruption of manners. But if Jesus 
Christ, according to the plain language, the whole contex- 
ture and design of the sacred books, be true, natural, eter- 
nal God, without any quibble or evasion, then how adorable 
is the love of God the Father, who spared not his own Son 
for our salvation ? How infinitely great and obligatory the 
condescension of God the Son, who took our nature and suf- 
fered for us ? How stupendous the charity and grace of 
God the Holy Ghost, who inspires Christians with a due 
sense of this great salvation ? and with qualifications to en- 
title us to it, and make us capable, fully and with eternal 
satisfaction to enjoy it ? * 

But the grand objection to the doctrine of the Holy and 
Undivided Trinity is, the seeming absurdity and contradic- 
tion of the thing, that three shall be one, and one three, 
Now, this may be either true or false, absurd or other- 
wise, according as it is explained and understood. If we 
said, that three are one, and one three, exactly in the same 



* Blackwall's Sacred Classics, v. 1. p. 320. 



SECT. 2. 



The Trinity, 



29 



sense, the thing is not only absurd, but impossible ; it is a 
contradiction. But to say, the Divine Being is only one in 
essence and three in person ; that he is three in one res- 
pect, and only one in another respect, is no absurdity, no 
contradiction ; but may be an eternal truth, founded in the 
nature of things. And if this were well considered, there 
would be an end to all opposition to the doctrine of the 
Trinity, from the seeming absurdity of the thing. It is 
confessed on all hands, that the doctrine is abstruse and in- 
comprehensible. So is the doctrine of the Divine Nature, 
upon any hypothesis whatever. Yet we do not say, it is 
absurd. We are obliged to submit our understandings, 
and silently acquiesce and adore. So with respect to the 
three persons, who bear record in heaven, the Father, 
the Word, and the Holy Ghost, the scripture assures us 
they are one. And as reason as well as scripture assures 
us, there can be but one God, we therefore conclude, these 
three persons are partakers of one common essence. 
Though they are three in one respect, yet they are only one 
in another. 

This will not appear so strange, perhaps, if we consider, 
that there are several objects in nature, besides the Divine 
Being, which are three and one j not three and one in the 
same respect, but three in one respect, and only one in ano- 
ther. This may render the doctrine of the Trinity more 
easy of comprehension 5 at least, make it appear not so ab- 
surd as sometimes it is represented by rash and inconside- 
rate mortals. Illustrations, indeed, do not prove the truth 
of any doctrine ; they only render it more easy of admittance 
into our minds and belief, when we see other objects, with 
which we are well acquainted, under similar circumstances. 

Let us then look round us, and examine if there be any 
objects in nature, which are strictly one in essence and yet 
three in properties. What think we of the Sun ? It is cer- 
tainly one of the most lively images in nature of the Holy 
and Undivided Trinity.* It is one in essence, and is the 
great fountain and source of both light and heat to the 

* The excellent Grotius has given us the same illustration of the 
doctrine of the Trinity in bis Institutio Baptizatorum Puerorum. The 
translation runs thus ;«•- 



30 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PART I, 

world. As it is the fountain and source of all its properties, 
it may be considered as representing the eternal Father, 
who is the fountain of the Deity, and the great original of 
all Being. The light which issues from the sun, may be 
considered as representing the second person in the Divine 
Nature ; for our Saviour is called the sun of righteous- 
ness, and the light of the world : and the heat proceeding 
from the sun, and which accompanies the light, may be 
considered as representing the Holy Spirit, the third person 
in the Divine Nature, who proceeds both from the Father 
and the Son, and* gives life to the world. The light and 
heat both proceed from the sun. Unless the sun existed, 
there could not be either one or the other. And on the 
other hand, if there is a sun in the firmament, there must 
be both light and heat : for it is of the very nature of that 
vast body to produce these two properties. So that the sun, 
light, and heat, are coexistent, they cannot be divided. 
As long as there is a sun there must be its essential proper- 
ties. The sun, indeed, is not the light, neither the heat, 
but it is the cause and source of both. They are all distinct, 
yet undivided. The sun depends not upon the light, or 
heat, or both, for its existence ; but yet it cannot be without 
them ; they are, as we said before, its essential properties ; 
and if it could be supposed to lose those properties, it 
would cease to be a sun. 

The several similitudes which the ancients used to illus- 
trate this matter, manifestly show, that they never dreamed 
of the Son's being created. Those similitudes are all of 
them low, and infinitely short of what they are intended to 
represent. Some of them perhaps are too coarse, and such 
as might better have been spared. But writers are not 
always upon their guard. They had a pious design in 
adapting their comparisons to the very meanest capacities. 
The comparisons of fountain and stream, root and branch, 
body and effluvia, light and heat, fire and flame, &c. served 

" Why is one God set forth in persons three ? 

" In holy writ thus known is he. 
" That three are one, what reason can us teach ? 

" God is above all human reach. 
" Can it by no similitude be shown ? 

The sun, light, heat, are three yet oneS* 



SECT. 2. 



The Trinity. 



31 



more particularly to signify the consubstantiality. Those 
of mind and thought, light and splendor, were more parti- 
cularly calculated to denote coeternity, abstracted from the 
consideration of consubstantiality.* 

Now, apply all this, not by way of proof, but by way of 
illustration ; by way of aiding our conceptions of the Di- 
vine Being, and we shall find there is a wonderful similitude. 
The Father is the Fountain of the Godhead. The Son and 
Holy Spirit spring from him, and depend upon him. He 
depends not upon them, but they upon him. He springs 
not from them, but they derive their being from him. If 
it could be supposed that the Father were annihilated, the Son 
and Spirit could no longer exist, they would be annihilated 
likewise. But as the Father is independent of the Son and 
Spirit, and they are absolutely dependent upon him, as the 
fountain of the Deity, so neither can he be without them 0 
They naturally and essentially proceed from him, as the light 
and heat naturally and essentially proceed from the sun. 
The Father cannot be without the Son and Spirit, any more 
than the sun can be without its essential properties. The 
Father was everlastingly a Father, the Son everlastingly a 
Son, and the Holy Ghost everlastingly a Spirit. So that 
though the Father is the Fountain of the Deity, yet all the 
three are undivided, inseparable, coequal and coeternal to- 
gether. 

Tertullian illustrates the procession of the Son from the 
Father by several comparisons, which serve, indeed, to con- 
vey some light into the subject, but yet fall infinitely short 
of a just and adequate representation : — The Word, says he, 
was always in the Father, as he saith, lam in the Father. 
John 14. 10. And the Word was always with God, as it 
is written, And the Word was with God; John 1.1. 
and never was separated from the Father, or another from 
the Father, because / and the Father are one. John 
10. 30. This assertion will be a defence of the truth, the 
guardian of the Unity, by which we declare the Son to be 
deduced from the Father, but not separated. For as even 
the Paraclete teacheth, God put forth his Word as a root 
puts forth the stem, and a fountain the river, and the sun a 



* Waterland's first and second Defences, passim, 



32 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PART I. 



ray ; for these several species are the extensions of the sub- 
stances from which they proceed. Nor should I scruple to 
call the fruit the son of the root, a river the son of the foun- 
tain, and a ray the son of the sun ; because every origin is 
a parent ; and every thing which is brought forth from an 
origin is a progeny : much more the Word of God who 
hath even with propriety received the name of the Son. 
Yet neither is the fruit sundered from the root, nor the river 
from the fountain, nor the ray from the sun, so neither the 
Word from God. Therefore according to the manner of 
these examples I profess that I call God and his Word, the 
Father and his Son, two. For both the root and stem are 
two things, but conjoined \ and the fountain and river are 
specifically two things, but not divided ; and the sun and 
ray are two forms, but cohering together. It is necessary, 
that whatsoever proceeds shall be second to that from 
which it proceeds, but not that it shall be therefore sepa- 
rate. But where there is a second, there are two ; and 
where there is a third, there are three. But the Spirit is 
third from God, and the Son, as the fruit from the stem is a 
third from the root, and a stream from a river a third from 
the fountain, and a gleam from the ray a third from the 
sun. There is yet no alienation from the radical source 
from which it deduces its peculiarities. So the Trinity, 
running down from the Father by compacted and connected 
degrees, in no wise opposes the monarchy, while it supports 
the state of the dispensation.* 

Take another illustration of this mysterious and incom- 
prehensible doctrine. It is said, when God created man he 
made him in his own image and likeness. And from the 
history of creation it is pretty clear, that each of the eternal 
Three was concerned in that great undertaking. May not 
something more then be meant than is usually supposed, 
when God said, Let us 7nake man in our image, after 
our likeness f As the Holy Trinity was engaged in the 
creation of our natures, may we not from these expressions 
expect to find a lively representation of that Trinity in 
those natures ? Whether it was designed or not, it is 
certain there is a striking illustration of the doctrine of 



Adv. Prax. cap, 8. 



SECT. 2. 



The Trinity. 



33 



the Trinity both in our souls and bodies. I say illustra- 
tion, because there cannot be an exact resemblance. 

The body, for instance, consists of length, breadth, and 
thickness. These three properties are all essential to mat- 
ter. We cannot destroy one without destroying the whole : 
nor can we by any means make its essential properties 
either more or less. Here then, as well as in the sun, are 
three and one. Not three and one in the same respect, for 
that, as was before observed, would be a contradiction ; but 
three properties and one essence, and this is no contra- 
diction. 

The soul of man likewise is another lively image of the 
unity of nature and plurality of persons in the Deity : for it 
consists of three essential faculties ; the understanding, 
the memory, and the will. 

Grotius represents the powers of the mind nearly in the 
same manner : — 

May we not some such thing in mankind see ? 

Life, reason, will, in one are three. 
Are Father, Son, and Spirit equal ? they 

With equal might one sceptre sway. 

Dr. Francis Gregory in his Divine Antidote, speaking 
upon the difficulty of comprehending the doctrine of the 
Trinity, says, the resurrection of the dead is a doctrine 
attended with such intricacies, and so many difficulties, that 
human reason scarcely knoweth how to admit it for a certain 
truth, though, indeed, it be so. In Paul's time it was 
thought to be a thing incredible, and Celsus styles it in 
Origen a thing impossible, and yet we believe, not only that 
it may, but must be. Now, as there are some things in 
nature, which are looked upon as types, emblems, and repre- 
sentations of the resurrection ; so likewise are there some 
instances in nature, which, though they cannot be urged as 
proofs for the certainty, yet may serve as useful illustrations 
to help our weak apprehensions, and somewhat facilitate our 
belief, as to the possibility of the Trinity. As for instance : 
There is in every living man a rational, a sensitive, and a 
vegetative soul ; and yet the soul of man is but one : so here, 
there is in the Deity a Father, a Son, and a Holy Ghost, 



34 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PART I. 

and yet the Deity is but one. Only here is the difference, 
reason, sense, and vegetation, are but three essential and 
distinct faculties, or powers of one and the same soul : 
whereas Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are three essential 
and distinct subsistences in one and the same Godhead ; 
and for the belief of this, the scripture is our only authentic 
warrant. * 

The understanding may be considered as the leading, 
father faculty, the memory and the will as dependent. They 
are all equally necessary to the existence of a human soul, 
but yet absolutely distinct. The understanding is not the 
memory, neither the memory the will ; nor is the will either 
the understanding or the memory. Without the understand- 
ing there can be no memory, and without both there can be 
no will, nor can either the memory or the will exist without 
first supposing the understanding. So the soul of man, 
quite as well as the Holy Trinity, may be called one 
in three and three in one, all coequal and coessential. 
Destroy one and you destroy the whole. 

These two illustrations, from the soul and body of man, 
are pursued more at large by Leslie, in his Socinian Contro- 
versy discussed \ a work which every man should read 
carefully, and either answer, or think himself capable of an- 
swering, before he rejects the doctrine of the Holy and 
Undivided Trinity. I confess, however, that, in my judg- 
ment, no man ever did, or ever can, fairly answer what that 
gentleman has written upon this subject. A man of learn- 
ing and ingenuity may cavil with such a writer, and treat 
him with ridicule and contempt ; he may possibly overturn 
some of his weaker positions ; but he can no more give 
him a fair, solid answer, such as ought to satisfy a reason- 
able man, competent to judge, than he can prove that two 
and two do not make four. Mr. Hammon can prove there 
is no God — Voltaire and Paine can prove that the bible is 
all a lie — Dr. Priestley that Jesus Christ was a mere man, 
and Paul an inconclusive reasoner — but how ? by what ar- 
guments ? 

The same Mr. Leslie hath given us a summary of his 
reasoning upon the doctrine of the Trinity in a letter to Mr. 
Gildon, the celebrated Deist, who had been converted to 



* Page 248; 



SECT. 2. 



The Trinity. 



35 



Christianity by reading that Gentleman's book, entitled, 
A Short Method with the Deists : and as it may afford sa* 
tisfaction to some persons, who might not otherwise have 
an opportunity of seeing it, I will transcribe the substance 
of it in this place : — We must acknowledge, says this great 
man, that there are many things in the Divine Nature far 
out of the reach of our reason : for how can finite compre- 
hend infinite ? Who can think what eternity is ? a duration 
without beginning, or succession of parts or time ! Who 
can so much as imagine or frame any idea of a Being nei- 
ther made by itself, nor by any other ! of omnipresence ! of 
a boundless immensity ! 

Yet all this reason obliges us to allow, as the necessary 
consequences of a first cause. 

And where any thing is established upon the full proof 
of reason, there ten thousand objections or difficulties, 
though we cannot answer them, are of no force at all to 
overthrow it. Nothing can do that, but to refute those 
reasons upon which it is established. Till then, the truth 
and certainty of the thing remains unshaken, though we 
cannot explain it, nor solve the difficulties that arise from it. 

And if it is so upon the point of reason, much more upon 
that of revelation, where the subject matter is above our 
reason, and could never have been found out by it. 

All to be done in that case, is, to satisfy ourselves of the 
truth of the fact, that such things were revealed of God, and 
are no imposture. 

And as to the contradiction alledged of three being one, 
it is no contradiction, unless it be said, that three are one in 
the self-same respect : for in divers respects, there is no 
sort of difficulty, that one may be three, or three thousand ; 
as one army may consist of many thousands, and yet it is 
but one army. There is but one human nature, and yet 
there are multitudes of persons who partake of that nature. 

Now, it is not said, that the three persons in the Divine 
Nature are one person ; that would be a contradiction : but 
it is said, that the three persons are one in nature. They 
are not three and one in the same respect ; they are three 
as to persons, and one as to nature. Here is no contradic- 
tion. 



36 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PART I. 

Again ; that may he a contradiction in one nature, which 
is not so in another: for example; It is a contradiction, 
that a man can go two yards or miles as soon as one, be- 
cause two is one, and another one, yet this is no contradic- 
tion to sight, which can reach a star as soon as the top of 
the chimney, and the sun darts his rays in a few moments 
from heaven to earth. But more than all these is the mo- 
tion of thought, to which no distance of place is any inter- 
ruption, which can arrive at Japan as soon as a yard's dis- 
tance ; and can run into the immensity of possibilities. 

Now, there are no words possible, whereby to give any 
notion or idea of sight to a man born blind; and conse- 
quently to reconcile the progress of sight or light to him 
from being an absolute contradiction ; because he can mea- 
sure it no otherwise than according to the motion of legs or 
arms, for he knows no other: therefore we cannot charge 
that as a contradiction in the Incomprehensible Nature, of 
being three and one, though we found it to be so in our 
nature ; which we do not, because, as before said, they are 
not three and one in the same respect. 

Now, let us consider further, that though there is no 
comparison betwixt finite and infinite, yet we have nearer 
resemblances of the three and one in God, than there is of 
sight to a man born blind : for there is nothing in any of 
the other four senses that has any resemblance at all to 
that of seeing, or that can give such a man any notion what- 
ever of it. 

But we find in our own nature, which is said to be made 
after the image of God, a very near resemblance of his holy 
Trinity, and of the different operations of each of the Divine 

Persons. 

For example ; To know a thing present, and to remem- 
ber what is past, and to love or hate, are different operations 
of our mind, and performed by different faculties of it. Of 
these, the understanding is the father faculty, and gives 
being to things, as to us ; for what we know not, is to us as 
if it were not. This answers to creation. From this faculty- 
proceeds the second, that of memory, which is a preserving 
of what the understanding has created to us. Then the 
third faculty is that of the will, which loves or hates, and 
proceeds from both the other ; for we cannot love or hate 



SECT. 2. 



The Trinity. 



3? 



what is not first created by the understanding, and preserved 
to us by the memory. 

And though these are different faculties, and their opera- 
tions different ; that the second proceeds from the first, or 
is begotten by it ; and the third proceeds from the first and 
second in conjunction, so that one is before the other, in 
order of nature, yet not in time ; for they are all congenial, 
and one is as soon in the soul as the other : and yet they 
make not three souls, but one soul : and though their ope- 
rations are different, and the one proceeds from the other, 
yet no one can act without the other, and they all concur 
to every act of each ; for in understanding and remembering 
there is a concurrent act of the will, to consent to such un- 
derstanding or remembering ; so that no one can act without 
the other; in which sense, no one is before or after the 
other ; nor can any of them be or exist without the other. 

But what we call faculties in the soul, we call persons 
in the Godhead ; because there are personal actions attri- 
buted to each of them ; as that of sending, and being sent, 
to take flesh, to be born, and the like. 

And we have no other word whereby to express it. We 
speak it after the manner of men ; nor could we understand, 
if we heard any of those unspeakable words which express 
the Divine Nature in its proper essence ; therefore we must 
make allowances, and great ones, when we apply words of 
our nature to the Infinite and Eternal Being. We must not 
argue strictly and philosophically from them, more than 
from God's being said to repent, to be angry, and the like. 
They are words in condescension to our weak capacities ; 
and without which, we could not understand. 

But this I say, that there are nearer resemblances afforded 
to us of this ineffable mystery of the Holy Trinity, than 
there is between one of our outward senses and another ; 
than there is to a blind man of colours, or of the motion of 
light or sight. And a contradiction in the one will not infer 
a contradiction in the other; though it is impossible to be 
solved, as in the instance before given of a man born blind, 
till we come to know both natures distinctly. 

And if we had not the experience of the different fa- 
culties of the mind, the contradiction would appear irrecon- 

D 3 



38 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PART I. 



cilable to all our philosophy, how three could be one, each 
distinct from the other, yet but one soul : one proceeding 
from, or being begot by the other ; and yet all coeval, and 
none before or after the other. And as to the difference 
between faculties and persons, substance and subsistence, 
it is a puzzling piece of philosophy. And though we give 
not a distinct subsistence to a faculty, it has an existence ; 
and one faculty can no more be another, than one person 
can be another. So that the case seems to be alike in both, 
as to what concerns our present difficulty of three and one : 
besides what before is said, that by the word person, when 
applied to God, for want of a proper word whereby to ex- 
press it, we must mean something infinitely different from 
personality among men. And therefore from a contradiction 
in the one, suppose it granted, we cannot charge a contra- 
diction in the other, unless we understand it as well as the 
other : for how else can we draw the parallel ? 

What a vain thing is our philosophy, when we would 
measure the Incomprehensible Nature by it ? when we find 
it nonplust in our own nature, and that in many instances ? 
If I' am all in one room, is it not a contradiction that any 
part of me should be in another room ? Yet it was a com- 
mon saying among philosophers, that the soul is all in all, 
and all in every part of the body. How is the same indivi- 
dual soul present at one and the same time, to actuate the 
distant members of the body, without either multiplication 
or division of the soul ? Is there any thing in the body can 
bear any resemblance to this, without a manifest contradic- 
tion ? Nay, even as to bodies, is any thing more a self- 
evident principle, than that the cause must be before the 
effect ? Yet the light and heat of the sun are as old as the 
sun : and supposing the sun to be eternal, they would be 
as eternal. 

And as light and heat are of the nature of the sun, 
and as the three faculties, before-mentioned, are of the na- 
ture of the soul, so that the soul could not be a soul, if it 
wanted any of them ; so may we, from small things to 
great, apprehend without any contradiction, that the three 
persons are of the very nature and essence of the Deity, and 
so of the same substance with it ; and though one proceed- 
ing from the other, as the faculties of the soul do, yet that 



SECT. 2. 



The Trinity. 



39 



all three are consubstantial, coeternal, and of necessary 
existence as God is ; for that these three are God ; and 
God is these three \ as understanding, memory, and a will 
are a soul; and a soul is understanding, memory, and 
will * 

* Leslie to Gildon. ' 



40 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PART 1. 



PART FIRST. 

SECTION HI. 



ARGUMENTS FOR THE DEITY OF JESUS, AND OBJECTIONS 
AGAINST IT STATED, AND ANSWERED. 



Doctrine of the Atonement. — Absurdity of considering 
Jesus as a mere man. — Story of Irenceus. — Jesus 
united with the Father. — Necessity of his Deity. — 
Socinian objections : — Answered. — Various passages 
of Scripture considered.-— Difficulties attending Doc- 
trines no argument against the reception of them. 

An unanswerable argument for the divinity of Christ, 
as it appears to me, may he taken from the doctrine of 
atonement. Various parts of holy scripture are full of of it. 
And, indeed, without it the bible would be one of the most 
strange and unaccountable books in the world. But, if 
Christ were no more than a mere man, this doctrine be- 
comes impossible in the nature of the thing. I conclude, 
therefore, that our blessed Saviour is possessed of a nature 
equal to this undertaking, or, in other words, that he is God 
over all blessed for ever. Amen. 

" This doctrine of satisfactio?i is the foundation of the 
Christian religion ; that when man had sinned, and was 
utterly unable to make any satisfaction for his sin, God sent 
his own Son to take upon him our flesh, and, in the same 
nature that offended, to make full satisfaction for the sins 
of the whole world, by his perfect obedience, and the sacri- 
fice of himself upon the cross. 

Some say, What need any satisfaction ? Might not 
God forgive without it ? It would show greater mercy. 
But these men consider not, that God is not only just, but 
he is justice itself, justice in the abstract, he is essential 



sect. 3. Atonement of Jesus. 41 



justice. And justice, by its nature, must exact to the ut- 
most farthing ; else it were not justice. To remit is mercy, H 
it is not justice. And the attributes of God must not fight 
and oppose each other : they must all stand infinite and 
complete. You may say, then, How can God forgive at 
all ? How can infinite mercy and justice stand together r 

This question could never have been answered, if God 
himself had not showed it to us, in the wonderful economy 
of our redemption : for here is his justice satisfied to the 
least iota, by the perfect obedience and passion of Christ, 
who is God, in the same human nature that offended. Here 
is infinite wisdom expressed in this means found out for our 
salvation ; and infinite mercy in affording it to us. Thus 
all his attributes are satisfied, and filled up to the brim. 
They contradict not, but exalt each other. His mercy 
exalts and magnifies his justice ; his justice exalts his mercy, 
and both his infinite wisdom. This is the sum and sub- 
stance, the Alpha and Omega of the Christian religion. 
Whoever holds not this doctrine, join not with them, nor 
bid them God-speed. * 

The sum of what the scripture reveals about this great 
truth, commonly called the satisfaction of Christ, may be 
reduced to these heads. — 1. That Adam being made upright 
sinned against God, and all his posterity in him. Gen. 1. 

27;— 3.°11 ;— Eccl. 7- 29 ;— Rom. 5. 12, 18, 19. 2. 

That by this sin of our first parents all men are brought into 
a state of apostacy from, and enmity against God. Gen. G. 
5 ;— Ps. 51.5 ;— Rem. 3. 23 8. 7 Ep. 2. 1 ;— 4. 18 ; 

— Col. 2. 13. 3. That in this state all men continue in 

sin against God, and, of themselves, are not able to do other- 
wise. Rom. 3. 10—12;— 7. 15, 18, 19, 23. 4. That 

the justice and holiness of God, as the moral Governor of 
the world, require the punishment of sin. Ex. 34. 7 — Jos. 
24. 1.9;— Ps. 5. 4— 6 ;— Hab. 1. 13 ;— Is. 33. 14;— Rom. 

1.32;— 3. 5, 6';— 2. Thess. 1. 6;— Heb. 12. 29. 5. 

That God hath also engaged his veracity and faithfulness 
not to leave sin unpunished. Gen. 2. 17; — Deut. 27. 26; 

Gal. 3. 10. 6. That God, out of his infinite goodness, 

grace, and love to mankind, sent his only Son to save and 
deliver them out of this condition. Mat. 1. 21; — John 3. 



* Leslie to Gildon,- 



42 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



PART I. 



16, 17;— Rom. 5. 8 ;— 1 John 4. 9, 10 ;— 1 Thess. h 10. 

7. That the way in general, whereby the Son of God, 

being incarnate, is to save lost sinners, was by a substitution 
of himself, in the room of those whom he was to save. 2 
Cor. 5. 21 ;— Gal. 3. 13 3— Rom. 5. 7, 8 ;— 8. 3 5— 1 Pet. 
2. 24;— 3. 18. 

This way of saving sinners is variously expressed 

in scripture. 1. He offered himself a sacrifice for 

sin to God. Is. 53. 10; — John 1. 29; — Ep. 5. 2;— Heb. 

2. 17; — 9. 11 — 14. 2. He redeemed us by paying a 

price, a ransom for us. Mark 10. 45 ; — 1 Cor. 6. 20 ; — 

I Tim. 2. 6 ;— Tit. 2. 14;— 1 Pet. 1. 11, 18.- 3. He 

bare our sins, or the punishment due to them. Is. 53. 5, 

II ; — 1 Pet. 2. 24. 4. He answered the law and the pe- 
nalty of it. Rom. 8. 3 ;— Gal. 3. 13 ;— 4. 4, 5. 5 He 

died for sin and sinners, to expiate the one, and instead of 
the other. Rom. 4. 25; — 5. 10; — 1 Cor. 15.3; — 2 Cor. 

5. 14;— 1 Thess. 5. 9, 10. 6. The effect hereof was— 

1. That the righteousness of God was glorified. Rom. 3. 
25, 26.-2. The law fulfilled and satisfied. Rom. 8. 3.— 
Gal. 3. 13, 14 ;— 4. 5.-3. God reconciled. 2 Cor. 5. 18, 
19; — Heb. 2. 17. — 4. Atonement was made for sin, an 
end made of sin, and peace with God obtained. Rom. 5. 
11 ;— Ep. 2. 14.— Dan. 9. 24*. 

Another argument for the divinity of Christ arises from 
the absurdity of his being no more than a mere man. All 
the great things spoken of him in holy scripture seem in- 
congruous to simple humanity. There is an indecorum in 
the thing, that a mere man should be placed at the head of 
the universe, and all the beings in it made subject unto him. 
I submit it to the Reader's consideration, whether there is 
not something as absurd in this hypothesis, as any thing 
that can be alleged against the doctrine of the Holy and 
Undivided Trinity, when fairly and candidly explained. 
One may justly, I think, retort Dr. Priestley's own words, 
that the hypothesis is, " such as no miracles can prove." 
The position appears to me so highly improbable as to ren- 
der the whole scripture where such doctrines are contained 
infinitely incredible. 

* See Dr. Owen on the Trinity, p. 108. 



SECT. 3. 



Atonement of Jesus. 



43 



The Socinians have been very unfortunate in the exe- 
cution of their main design : for they have not purged mys- 
tery out of the scripture, they have only changed its place: 
they have taken mystery out of the doctrine of the scripture, 
where it was venerable, and worthy the majesty of God, 
and have placed it in the phrase of the scripture, where it 
is opprobrious and repugnant to God's sincerity *. 

Irenseus relates a story f, which he had from his master 
Polycarp, that going with some friends at Ephesus to a 
bath, and finding Cerinthus X, the arch-heretic, there before 
him, he with great abhorrence turned back, crying out, 
" Let us escape immediately, lest the building fall upon our 
heads, since Cerinthus, the enemy of God and his truth 
is in it." Now, whether this relation be true or false, it 
incontestably shews us in what abhorrence the principles 
of Cerinthus were held in the time of Irenseus, the disciple 
of Polycarp, and in the time of Polycarp, the disciple of 
St. John : And, if the story be true, of which there is no 
solid reason to doubt, we may add, in the time of St. John, 
the bosom friend and beloved disciple of our Lord. 

Another argument for the divinity of Christ arises from 
his being so frequently joined with his Father in different parts 
of the holy scripture : I mean in such passages as these : — 
Grace to you, and peace from God our Father, and the 
Lord Jesus Christ, repeated in most of the epistles of 
Paul : — James, a servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus 

Christ : Grace and peace be multiplied unto you 

through the knoivledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord: — 
To them ivho are sanctified hy God the Father, and pre- 
served in Jesus Christ, and called. Now, upon the sup- 
position that Christ was no more than a mere good man, 
exalted by the pleasure of the Father, this seems strange 
unguarded language. There is an indecency, and impro- 
priety, an unsuitableness in such representations. The 
scriptures are calculated to mislead and deceive. Let the 
reader, however, judge and determine for himself. 

* Young's Sermons, vol. 2. p. 78. 
t Book 3d. chap. 3d.— t " Cerinthus believed that Christ was a mere 
man, born of Joseph and Mary, but in his baptism, a celestial virtue de- 
scended on him in form of a dove, by means whereof he was consecrated 
by the Holy Spirit, and made Christ." He entertained besides various 
other errors. See Irenaeus for the particulars. 



44 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



PART I. 



It is an old and true distinction, says Dean Swift, 
that things may be above our reason, without being con- 
trary to it. Of this kind are the power, the nature, and the 
universal presence of God, with innumerable other points. 
How little do those, who quarrel with mysteries, know of 
the commonest actions of nature ? The growth of an animal, 
of a plant, or of the smallest seed, is a mystery to the wisest 
among men. If an ignorant person were told that a load- 
stone would draw iron at a distance, he might say, it was a 
thing contrary to his reason, and he could not believe before 
he saw it with his eyes. — The manner whereby the soul and 
body are united, and how they are distinguished, is wholly 
unaccountable to us. We see but one part, and yet we 
know we consist of two ; and this is a mystery we cannot 
comprehend, any' more than that of the Trinity. — God never 
did command us to believe, nor his ministers to preach any 
doctrine which is contrary to the reason he hath been 
pleased to endue us with; but, for his own wise ends, has 
thought fit to conceal from us the nature of the thing he 
commands ; thereby to try our faith and obedience, and 
increase our dependence upon him. * 

Another argument for the divinity of Christ arises from 
the necessity of the thing : for if he had not been possessed 
of a divine nature as well as a human, he could not have 
been a suitable Mediator between God and man. Hence 
we find several of the most early Fathers of the church rea- 
soning concerning the different natures of the Redeemer 
in the manner following: — There is one physician, says 
Ignatius, both fleshly and spiritual^ made and not made; 
God incarnate ; true life in death ; both of Mary and of 
God ; first passible, then impassible ; even Jesus^our Lord. 
Wherefore let no man deceive you. f 

Corruption, says Justin Martyr being become natu- 
ral to us, it was necessary that he, who would save us, 
should destroy that which corrupted us. This could not 
otherwise be, except what was naturally life was joined to 
that which was corruptible, to vanquish corruption, and for 
the future preserve that immortal, which was obnoxious to 

* Sermons' p. 24—26. See too the late Rev. John Wesley's Sermon 
on the Trinity, where are some useful reflections. 

t Epist. to Ephe. sect. 7. 



SECT. 3. 



Atonement of Jesus, 



45 



it. It was therefore necessary, that the Word should be 
embodied, to free us from the death of our natural corrup- 
tion *. 

Irenseus, in his learned work more than once inculcates 
the same important doctrine. Christ, says he, united 
man to God. For if man had not conquered the adversary 
of man, he had not been lawfully conquered. Again, if 
God had not given salvation, we could not have firmly ob- 
tained it. And if man had not been united to God, he 
could not have been partaker of incorruption. For it be- 
hoved the Mediator of God and men, by a proper familiarity 
with both, to bring them to friendship and unanimity, to 
present man to God, and to make known God to men f. 

From the nature of the thing, and from these high au- 
thorities, and various others that might be produced % 9 it 
• mav, therefore, be fairly concluded, that if our blessed Sa- 
viour is not both divine and human, strictly speaking, he is 
inadequate to the business of man's salvation. 

Dr. Priestley, in defence of the simple humanity of 
Christ, dwells much upon the expectations of the Jews in 
our Saviour's time. They expected a mere man for their 
Messiah, and therefore Christ is no more than a mere man. 
, Now, taking for granted that the supposition is just (and it 
may be fairly questioned) it will not follow that the objection 
proves any thing to the point in hand. Indeed, it proves 
too much. We should not attend to what the Jews did 
expect so much, as to what they ought to have expected, 
according to their own prophetic scriptures. For it is mani- 
fest they were ill guides, mistaken in many things, and ex- 
tremely obstinate in their errors. We may illustrate this by 
an instance. It is plain from all their history, that they 
expected a temporal and triumphant Messiah ; whereas it 
is equally plain they ought to have expected a suffering 
Messiah, their own prophets having clearly foretold his 
sufferings. After threescore and two weeks shall Messiah 
be cut off, hut not for himself %. — He was ivounded for 

* Grabe's Specil. vol. 1. cent. 2- p. 172. t Lib. 3. cap. 20. 

J See Iren, lib. 3. cap. 21. Tertul. De resur. earn. c. 51, 63, and De 
cam Christ. Hippol. cont. Noet. sec. 17. Cyp. Deidol. vauit. sect. 6, 7, 
Novat. De Trinit, c. 16, 18. Lact. lib. 4 c. 13. 

$ Dan 9. 26. 



46 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PART I. 



our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the 
chastisement of our peace was upon Mm, and with his 
stripes we are healed*. The Jews were accordingly often 
reproved for not expecting a suffering Messiah, and on this 
account charged with ignorance of the holy scriptures. O 
fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets 
have spoken : ought not Christ to have suffered these 
things, and to enter into his glory f t These are the 
words of our Saviour himself to the two disciples going to 
Emmaus. And at another time he said to the whole body 
of disciples : These are the words which I spake unto yoU 9 
while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled 
ivhich were written in the law of Moses, and in the pro- 
phets, and in the psalms concerning me. — Thus it is writ- 
ten and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise again 
from the dead the third day J. St. Peter the apostle of the 
circumcision, made the same declaration to his hearers in 
the sermon recorded by St. Luke : Those things ivhich God 
before had shelved by the mouth of all his prophets, that 
Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled §. And in the 
same manner St. Paul addressed the Jews : They that 
dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew 
him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read 
every sabbath-day, they have fulfilled them in condemn- 
ing him || . From all these considerations it fully appears, 
that the arguments against any part of our blessed Saviour's 
personal or mediatorial character, which are deduced from 
the ignorance of his countrymen respecting it, are mani- 
festly inconclusive, because it is clear beyond all contra- 
diction that they were unacquainted with his real character. 
None more positive and secure than they in the justness of 
their opinions, none more awfully mistaken. This consi- 
deration ought most certainly to moderate the confidence of 
flaming zealots of every description, and incline them to 
contend for what they judge to be the truth with fear and 
trembling. 

There is another objection, which is frequently made to 
the doctrine of the Trinity by men from whom one would 
expect better things. If we admit the doctrine of the 

* Is. 53. 5. t Luke 24. 25, 26. t Ibid. 24. 44, 46. 

€ Acts 31. 8. || Ibid. 13. 17. 



SECT. 3. 



The Trinity. 



Trinity, say they, why may we not as well admit the doc- 
trine of transubstantiation ? for they are both equally 
absurd. 

This objection hath been answered upon many occasions 
by men every way qualified, aud yet it continues to be urged 
by the enemies of the Trinity as though no notice had ever 
been taken of it. This is disingenuous. Men that pretend 
to be lovers of truth should despise such arts. If an objec- 
tion is really valid, let it be urged with all the force of which 
it is capable. But if it is answerable, and has been answered 
very frequently, we should be ashamed to bring it into the 
field again. Dr. Priestley is one of the first who would despise 
a man for being guilty of such conduct in his own case; and 
yet, I am sorry to see, that he continues to repeat in several 
of his publications the objection before us; when he must 
know in his conscience, if he thinks seriously upon it, that 
it is of no force in this argument. The late Mr. Fletcher, 
before quoted, hath answered the objection with his usual 
sprightliness; and I am persuaded, it will gratify the rea- 
der to see it in his own words : — If the philosophers, 
says this good man, who attack the catholic faith, cannot 
overthrow the doctrine of the Trinity by the arguments they 
draw from their avowed ig?iora?ice of the Divine Nature, 
they seem determined to make us give up the point, by 
arguments drawn from fear and from shame. Availing 
himself of our dread of Popery, and of our contempt for the 
Popish error of transubstantiation, the learned Doctor loses 
no opportunity to compare that p)*etended mystery, that 
despicable absurdity, with the awful mystery of the Trinity 
— exhorting us to reject them both, as equally contrary to 
reason and common sense. Thus, in his Appeal to the 
Professors of Christianity, speaking of the Divinity of 
Christ, he says, ( The prevalence of so impious a doctrine 
can be ascribed to nothing but that mystery of iniquity, 
which began to work in the times of the Apostles them- 
selves. — This, among other shocking corruptions of Chris- 
tianity, grew up with the system of Popeiy. After exalting 
a man into God, a creature into a creator, men made a 
piece of bread into one also, and then bowed down to, and 
worshipped the work of their own hands/ And, in the 
Preface of his Disquisitions, he writes,, ( Most Protestants 



48 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



PART r. 



will avow they have made up their minds with respect to 
the Popish doctrine of transubstantiation, so as to be justi- 
fied in refusing even to lose their time in reading what may 
be addressed to them on it ; and I avow it with respect to 
the doctrine of the Trinity.' 

As these comparisons are the second store-house, 
whence the learned Doctor draws his arguments against our 
supposed idolatry, it is proper to shew the unreasonableness 
of his method. For this, three remarks will, I hope, be 
sufficient. — 1. The question between Dr. Priestley and us 
is, Whether there are three Divine Subsistences in the one 
Divine Essence ? Now it is plain, that to deny this proposi- 
tion, as reasonably as we deny that bread is flesh, and that 
wine is human blood, we must be as well acquainted with 
the nature of the Divine Essence, and of Divine Personality, 
as we are with the taste of bread and wine. But how widely 
different is the case, the Doctor himself being judge ? Do 
not his Disquisitions assert, that the Divine Essence hath 
properties most essentially different from every thing 
else — that of God's substance we have no idea at all — 
and that he must forever remain the Incomprehensible f 
Therefore, if God hath revealed, that he exists with the 
three personal distinctions of Father, Word, and Holy Ghost, 
the Doctor, after his concessions, can never deny it, without 
exposing at once his piety, his philosophy, his logic, and his 
common sense ; unless he should make it appear, that he is 
the first man, who can pertinently speak of what he has no 
idea at all, and who perfectly comprehends what must for- 
ever remain incomprehensible. But, — 2. The question be- 
tween the Pope and us, with respect to transubstantiation, 
is quite within our reach ; since it is only, whether bread 
be flesh and bones ; whether wine be human blood ; whe- 
ther the same identical body can be wholly in heaven, and 
in a million of places on earth, at the same time ; and whe- 
ther a thin round wafer, an inch in diameter, is the real 
person of a man five or six feet high. Here, we only decide 
about things known to us from the cradle, and, concerning 
which, our daily experience, and our five senses, help us to 
bear a right judgment, agreeable to the tenor of the scrip- 
ture. Therefore, — 3. Considering that the two cases are 
diametrically contrary, and differ as much as the depths of 



SECT. 3. 



The Trinity, 



49 



the Divine Nature differ from a piece of bread; as much as 
the most incomprehensible thing in heaven, differs from the 
things we know best upon earth — we are bold to say, that 
when the learned Doctor involves the Protestant worshippers 
of the Trinity, and the Popish worshippers of a bit of bread, 
in the same charge of absurd idolatry, he betrays as great a 
degree of unphitosophical prejudice, and illogical reason- 
ing, as ever a learned and wise man was driven to, in the 
height of disputation for a favourite error. 

Do what you can, says the Socinian, you must either 
sacrifice the Unity to the Trinity, or the Trinity to the 
Unity; for they are incompatible. — But who says it? Cer- 
tainly not our Lord, who commands all nations to be bap- 
tized into the one name of the Father, of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost. And if Dr. P. says it, then he says it without 
knowing it; for speaking like a judicious Philosopher, he 
has just told us, that probably the Divine Nature, besides 
being simply unknown to him, most essentially differs from 
the human in many circumstances, of which he hath no 
knowledge at all. To this sufficient answer, we beg leave 
to add an illustration, which may throw some light upon the 
Doctor's unphilosophical positiveness. 

Modern physicians justly maintain the circulation of the 
blood, which being carried from the heart through the 
arteries, flows back to it by the veins. But a learned Doc- 
tor, very fond of unity, availing himself of the connexion 
which the arteries have with the veins in all the extremities 
of the body, insists that one set of vessels is more agreeable 
to the simplicity of the human frame. What ! says he, 
Arteries ! Veins ! and lymphatic Vessels too ! I pronounce 
that one set of uniform, circular vessels, is quite sufficient. 
You must therefore sacrifice the arteries to the veins, or the 
veins to the arteries ; for they are quite incompatible. This 
dogmatical positiveness of the Unitarian Anatomist, would 
surprize us the more, if we had just heard him say, that 
there are many things in anatomy, of which he has no 
knowledge at all, and assert, that the minute ramifications, 
and delicate connexions of the vessels which compose the 
human frame, are, and must for ever remain incomprehen- 
sible to those who have our feeble and imperfect organs. 
From this simile, which, we hope, is not improper, we 



50 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PART I* 



infer, that if positiveness on this anatomical question would 
not become the learning and modesty of a Doctor in Physic, 
a like decree of peremptoriness and assurance, in a matter 
infinitely more out of our reach, is as unsuitable to the 
humble candour of a Doctor in Divinity, as to the cautious 
wisdom of a Philosopher *• 

It is, moreover, perpetually objected by those who are 
wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own conceit, 
that is, by the vain-glorious philosophers of the day ; That 
it is not in our power to believe what we will, and that we 
must have reason and evidence on our side. 

Experience, however, will easily make it appear, that the 
inclination of man has frequently more influence upon his 
belief, than reason and argument. What any man would 
willingly have to be true, he finds it not difficult to believe* 
Nothing is more common than for inclination to over-rule 
reason. Where affection and prepossession take place, there 
judgment becomes partial and blind, and we are made capa- 
ble of embracing the most absurd propositions in nature. 
We refuse our assent as often for want of inclination as we 
do for want of argument and evidence ; and we may say with 
a respectable writer — " What men at first call reason, and 
afterwards conscience; is oftentimes no other than affecta- 
tion, and prejudice, and wilfulness crept into the chair/' 
We may therefore safely conclude, that an humble and ready 
faith, casting down imaginations, and every thing that 
exalts itself against the knowledge of Christ, is the only 
expedient both to make and to keep men wisef. 

Another argument for the pre-existence and divinity of 
Christ arises from the history of the various heresies which 
sprung up in the Christian church in the earliest ages. We 
know when most of them arose, what was the occasion of 
them, and what reception they met with from the Apostle* 
and their immediate successors. Simon Magus was the first 
heretic, and the father of all heresy. Hymeneus and 
Philetus denied the resurrection. Others, who are anony- 
mous, maintained the necessity of circumcision, and of ob- 
serving the law of Moses. Others asserted, that Christ had 
not come in the flesh. Some denied Jesus to be the Christ. 

* This argument is wholly taken from Mr. Fletcher before mentioned, 
t See Young's Sermons,, p. 87. 



SECT. 3. 



The Trinity, 



51 



Some said he had no divine nature; others, he had no hu- 
man. All these, and abundance of other errors, crept in^o 
the church within the two first centuries, and were strenu- 
ously opposed by Peter, Paul, John, Ignatius, Polycarp, 
Trenseus, and others, who all maintained, with unshaken con- 
fidence, that Jesus Christ not only pre-existed, but was the 
proper Son of God, and the creator of the world. All this 
they not only asserted, but treated the oppugners thereof 
with great and just indignation. I add, lastly, that 

When the several kingdoms in Europe had been buried 
in Eyptian darkness for many ages, through the prevalence 
of the corruptions of the church of Rome, the Reformation 
took place in the sixteenth century. And it is remarkable, 
that all the churches in Christendom, which cast off the 
delusions of popery, still retained the doctrine of the 
Trinity as a fundamental article of the Christian religion. 
However they might differ from each other in smaller mat- 
ters, they were all perfectly agreed in this one principle. 
The confession of the Helvetic, the French, the Belgic, the 
English, the Scotch, the Polish, the Saxon, the Bohemian, 
the German churches, the churches of the Swedes and 
Danes, besides the different denominations of Dissenters in 
this country : These all, or in general, professed to make 
the holy scriptures alone the rule of their faith ; they all 
differed very materially one from another, in several re- 
spects ; and yet they all agreed, that the doctrine of the 
Trinity is not only scriptural but fundamental in Chris- 
tianity *. 

In answer to every thing that can be advanced in favour 
of the pre-existence and divinity of Christ, it is further ob- 
jected, that there are numerous passages of scripture, which 
speak a different language, and seem to say, that he is a 
mere human creature. 

It is readily granted there are several scriptures of this 
kind ; and if any of them asserted plainly and unequivo- 
cally that Christ was a mere man, and no more than a mere 
man, then we should be obliged, either to conclude, that 
the scriptures contradicted themselves, or that all the other 
passages, which represent him as being more than man, 

* See this proved at large by some London Ministers in the Doctrine 
of the Blessed Trinity stated and defended, 



52 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PART t. 

must be brought down to a level with those, which speak of 
his simple humanity. But seeing some parts of the sacred 
writings speak of our Saviour as being man and others speak 
of him as being God, the son of God, it has been the custom in 
every age of the church, in order to reconcile these seemingly 
inconsistent declarations, to apply the former to his humanity, 
and the latter to his divinity. Parallel to the case before us 
is the account which is given in various parts of scripture, 
of the nature both of men and angels. Men are sometimes 
therein said to be mortal, sometimes immortal. Angels too 
are sometimes spoken of as men, at other times as being 
what they really are. Two or three instances will illustrate 
my meaning. The first is that of the angels who- appeared 
to Abraham. They are expressly called men, three times 
in the compass of the eighteenth chapter of Genesis, and 
yet the whole context shews them to have been angels > and 
one of the three to have been even the Lord of angels, and 
the Judge of all the earth. 

Another instance is, the history of the two angels, 
who appeared to Lot, while he dwelt at Sodom. In that 
short account, they are four times denominated men, though 
the whole history declares them to have been angels. — So 
in the story of Manoah and the angel, he is more than once 
called both a man, and a man of God, and yet he gave suf- 
ficient proof that he was of more than mortal origin. — In 
like manner when Gabriel descended from heaven, in answer 
to the prayer of Daniel, he is positively called the man 
Gabriel f. 

We have other instances in the New Testament. The 
two angels, who appeared to the women, that were coming 
to anoint the body of Jesus, after his crucifixion, are said to 
have been two men in shining garments J. And after- 
wards, when he ascended into heaven, two men in white 
apparel stood by the disciples, and told them, that Jesus 
should come again in like manner as they had seen him go 
into heaven §. 

* We can no more conclude that Jesus Christ is not God, because the 
Holy Spirit sometimes speaks of him as a simple man, than we can con- 
clude, that he is not man, because he speaks of him sometimes as God. 

Saurin by Robinson, vol. 3. p. 119* 
f Dan. 9. 21. t Luke 24*4. § Acts 1. 10, 11. 



sect. 3. Divinity of Jesus. 53 

Now, if any one should insist, that the angels are no 
more than mere men, because they are sometimes called by 
that name, as in the several instances here produced, he 
would act just as improperly as they <lo, who attempt to 
prove, that the Son of God is possessed of no nature 
higher than humanity, because he is sometimes denomi- 
nated a man, and the son of man. We will, however, 
proceed to produce some of the most remarkable of those 
scriptures, which speak for the humanity of Christ, and are 
usually urged by the Socinians to prove, that he is nothing 
more than man. The order in which they are found in the 
bible may be as convenient as any other. 

1 . Why callest thou me good f There is none good hut 
one, that is God. Mat. 19. 17. — To see the force of this 3 
we must reason with the man upon his own mistaken prin- 
ciples. Why do you call me good, whom you do not be- 
lieve to be any other than a mere man ? There is none 
truly good but God, who is the only author of all goodness 
and happiness. This is the answer commonly given to 
the difficulty in this text, and appears sufficiently satisfac- 
tory. It seems a question proposed to the man, as in Mat. 
9. 28. Ibid. 22. 43. and John 9, 35. to make him profess 
his belief of our Lord's being the Son of God. See a good 
criticism on the Greek text in Jones's Catholic Doctrine of 
the Trinity, chap. I. sect. 24. See too Dr. Trapp on the 
Trinity, p. 109, 110. 

2. To sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine 
to give, hut it shall be given unto them for whom it is 
prepared of my Father. Mat. 20. 23. — This difficulty is 
solved by this single observation, that Christ derived his 
divine nature from his Father as well as his human, and that 
through the whole of his life here in the world, he acted as 
his Father's delegate. It was no part of his undertaking 
here below to allot to men their future abodes. The law 
promulgated from the eternal throne is, that every man shall 
be rewarded, not according to peculiar and foolish parti- 
alities, but according to his works. — Our blessed Saviour 
has promised elsewhere, to bestow this reward as his own 
right : To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with 
me in my throne. Rev. 3, 21. Consult Jones on the Trinity, 
£hap. 1. sect. 32 3 for a criticism on the original text, 

E 3 



54 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PART t. 

3. All power is given unto me in heaven and in eartlu 
Mat. 28. 19. — Christ was mediator between God and man. 
As his divine nature had ineffably existed with his Father 
from everlasting, so his human nature became invested, 
after his resurrection, with universal dominion. He was 
exalted as God-Man mediator, where he ever liveth to 
make intercession, and sitteth at his Father's right hand 
till all opposing power is reduced into subjection to his au - 
thority. 

4. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not 
the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, hut the 
Father. Mark 13. 32. — As God, Christ knew all things, 
and was possessed of all possible perfection. As man, he 
was ignorant of many things, the day of judgment in par- 
ticular. He grew in wisdom, as well as in stature. It was 
no part of his commission among men, to reveal the par- 
ticular time when this event shall be. This last seems to 
be the sense of the passage, because he is frequently said 
in other parts of scripture to know all things. 

Our Saviour's design in this place being only to re- 
present the day here spoken of as a secret not to be made 
known unto men until it should come upon them, that they 
might always stand upon their guard, watch, and prepare for 
it : let but the word know be taken to signify make known 
(which fully answers the design of the place, and, as it is 
evident, St. Paul uses the same word. 1 Cor. 2. 2. / deter- 
mined, says he, not to know, that is, not to make known 
or teach, any thing among you, save Jesus Ch?ist and him 
crucified : ) and then the most natural paraphrase of that 
place will be this — But that day and hour there is no one 
who shall or can make known unto you; no, not the angels 
ivhich are in heaven (who may be supposed to be ignorant 
of it themselves) nor even the Son himself (who, although 
he knoweth all things. John 21. 17, yet can do nothing of 
himself, but tuhat he seeth the Father do. John 5. 19, 
and ivho speaketh not of himself, hut the Father ivhich 
sent him gave him commandment what he should say. 
John 12. 49.) but the Father only shall in his own time, 
make it known by bringing it to pass*. See a good 



* Gentleman's Religion, p. 2. p. 26, 



SECT. 3. 



Divinity of Jesus. 



55 



solution of the difficulty contained in this text in Water- 
land's Eight Sermons on the Divinity of Christ, p. 268 — 
273. And for a defence of the Fathers on the passage, con- 
sult his Vindication of the Divinity of Christ, p. 104 — 112 
and p. 415. See too what Dr. Bishop has advanced in his 
Eight Sermons at Lady Mover's lecture, p. 107 — 1 16. Con- 
sult also Trapp on the Trinity, p. 113, 114. 

5. My Father is greater than L John 14. 28. — This 
would have been a declaration of the utmost impudence, on 
the supposition that Christ was no more than a mere man, 
or an angel. But admitting that he was the eternal Son of 
his Father, and acted under him as mediator and delegate, 
to say, My Father is greater than I, is highly proper, and a 
sentiment worthy of his piety. The Father is the foun- 
tain of the Godhead, from whence the Son derived his 
eternal existence. There is therefore a precedence in the 
Father as Father, " such as the priority of earthly parents may 
be supposed to possess, though at the same time the most 
perfect equality of nature remains." See Hawker's Sermons 
on the Divinity of Christ, p. 176 — 178, for a sensible ob- 
servation on this passage. Consult Clarke on the Trinity, 
p. 141—147. Ibid. p. 260—- 263. Ibid. 273—281. Dr. 
Bishop too has given a good view of the text, and produced 
other testimonies from the Fathers, besides those in Dr. 
Clarke's book. Consult likewise Trapp on the Trinity, p. 
115—124, 

6. u£nd this is life eternal, that they might knoiu thee 
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. 
John 17. 3. — There were two grand points, which all that 
were converted to the Christian faith were to learn : they 
were to turn from all their false gods to serve the one true 
God, and to believe that Jesus was the Christ. This, and 
no other is the lesson conveyed in these words. They 
assert nothing more. The true God is used in opposi- 
tion to false gods ^ Jesus Christ in opposition to all other 
saviours. 

This passage of scripture being more important than 
ordinary, we will examine in what manner the Ancients 
understood it. — " Our Lord preached to those who had 
fallen into polytheism, the one only true God his Father." 
Ignat. larger Epist, to the Mag. Sect. 11. 



56 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PART, I. 

" If Christ would not have us understand him also to be 
God, why did he add these words — And Jesus Christ whom 
thou hast sent f for which addition there could be no other 
reason but this, that he would have himself taken for 
God; for were it otherwise, he would have added, And 
the man Christ Jesus whom thou hast sent: he added, 
however, no such thing ; but here joined himself to God, 
that by this conjunction we might understand him to be, 
what indeed he is, God. Tertul. quoted by Maldonatus on 
the place. 

St. Austin has it thus : — The order in which these 
words are to be understood is this — That they may know 
thee, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent, to he the only 
true God. De Trim. 1. 6. c. .9. 

Athanasius says, These two clauses of our Lord's 
speech are knit together by the copulative, and the sense of 
them is, That they may know thy Son to he the true God, 
even as they knotv thee the Father to be so. Disp. ad, 
Arium. 

Basil has it thus : — -Our Lord calls his Father, the 
only true God; not as if his person alone were so, but 
in opposition to those idols which were then thought to 
be God, but were not so : but the title of the true God 
doth equally belong to the Father and the Son. Adv. 
Eunom. 1. 4. 

In short, all the ancient writers, who have had occasion 
to mention this text of scripture, speak of it much in the 
same style with the above. And the reader will please to 
take notice, that there is a very wide difference between 
saying the Father is the only true God, and the Father only 
is the true God. The former is our Lord's declaration, the 
latter is the meaning Socinians put upon it. 

Grotius upon the' place saith, The Father is called the 
only true God, to exclude all those whom the false persua- 
sion of the Gentiles had introduced for gods. 

Erasmus too has much the same sentiment : — When 
our Lord styles his Father, the only true God, he does not 
exclude himself, who is the Son; but distinguishes the true 
God from the idols of the Heathens. 

Consult Trapp on the Trinity, p. 1 10—1 13, and Whitby 
on the place. 



S42CT. 3. 



Divinity of Jesus. 



57 



7. Unto us there is but one God the Father, of whom 
are all things a?id we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, 
by whom are all things and we by him. 1 Cor. 8. 6. — 
Nothing is asserted in this passage contrary to what is 
called the catholic faith. There is one God, and one Me- 
diator. Whether that Mediator is a person in the divine 
substance is neither asserted, nor denied in this place. If 
the term God is used in an exclusive sense, it proves too 
much ; for we may as well say, there is but One Lord, as 
that there is but one God. 

Origen has spoken pretty much at large upon this pas- 
sage of scripture : — I wonder how any one, says he, who 
reads what the apostle Paul has said, that there is one God, 
the Father, of ivhom are all things, and one Lord Jesus 
Christ, by whom are all things, should yet deny that they 
ought to confess the Son of God to be God, lest they should 
seem to acknowledge two Gods. How will they dispose of 
this passage of the Apostle, in which Christ is openly de- 
clared to be God over all? Rom. 9. 5. But they who hold 
these opinions do not consider, that as he has not termed the 
Lord Jesus Christ the one Lord in such an exclusive man- 
ner, that God the Father shall not be Lord ; so also he has 
not denominated God the Father, God in such an exclusive 
manner, as that the Son shall not be believed to be God. 
In Epist. ad Rom. lib. 7. chap. 9. 

8. The head of Christ is God. 1 Cor. 11. 3.— This is 
similar to some of the foregoing. The Father is the foun- 
tain of the Godhead. Christ derived his deity from him ; 
his humanity from him 3 his mediatorial office from him. 
In all these, and in every other possible sense, the head of 
Christ is God : but it by no means follows from hence, that 
Christ is no more than man. 

9. Then cometh the end when he shall have delivered 

up the kingdom to God even the Father. 1 Cor. 15. 24. 

This is one of the most difficult portions of sacred scripture, 
not because of any thing in itself, but because it is an 
imperfect revelation. It is a hint thrown out concerning a 
great event which is to take place in the world of glory, but 
not pursued to any length. The force of it seems to lie in 
this circumstance, that when all the purposes for which 
Christ undertook the mediatorial office shall have been 



58 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PART I. 

answered, that office shall cease, as being no longer neces- 
sary, and pure deity shall alone continue. But this does 
not prove that Christ will then in all respects cease to be a 
king. His natural and essential kingdom will have no end. 
But his mediatorial dignity and office will cease through 
eternity, as being no longer necessary. This view seems 
Calculated to reconcile this passage with that other of St. 
Luke, where he says, He shall reign over the house of 
Jacob forever j and of his kingdom there shall be no end* 
See Jones on the Trinity, chap. 1. sect. 25. 

This difficult passage of scripture is very well explained 
by Peter Martyr, as quoted by Bishop Bull in his Prim, et 
Apost*. " To reign is sometimes taken for excelling others, 
having the pre-eminence, or highest place over others. 
Now in this sense Christ will always reign. But if we say, 
that to reign is the same as to exercise the offices of a king, 
to fight for, to defend, to conquer, and the like ; Christ will 
not always reign. For when we are perfect and complete, 
we shall have no occasion for the aids of Christ. When he 
came into the world, he preached, he taught, he died for 
our salvation ; now also he intercedes for us with the Father, 
he defends us from imminent dangers, and never intermits 
his mediatorial offices and actions. But at the end, when 
he hath made an universal peace, he will resign these 
offices to the Father, because then there will be no further 
occasion for them. Thus, when a powerful prince sends his 
only son to some province of his realm, which is seditious, 
tumultuary, and rebellious, the son goes with command and 
strong force ; but when he has quieted the commotions, 
and subdued the rebels, he returns conqueror to his father, 
triumphs, and delivers up the province in peace to his 
father, no longer uses the military command, or the legions, 

10. There is one Lord, and one God and Father of 
all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 
Eph. 4. 5, 6. — This asserts only that there is one God, and 
one Mediator, whom he calls one Lord. God's being called 
one God, no more excludes Christ from that high title, than 



* Tradit. cap. 6. sect. 9. 



SECT. 3, 



Divinity of Jesus. 



59 



Christ's being called the one Lord, excludes the Father 
from the same appellation and dominion. 

11. For there is one God and one Mediator between God 
and men, the man Christ Jesus. lTim. 2. 5. — This is in the 
same predicament with some of the foregoing. There is one 
God and one Mediator. If the stress is laid on man : It is 
replied, The angels are frequently called the same, but yet 
they, at the very time, were possessed of a higher nature. 
St. Cyprian says, This Christ is our God, who put on man, 
that, as a mediator between both, he might lead man to the 
Father. De Vanit. Idol. 

12. The revelation of Jesus Christ, ivhich God gave 
unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must 
shortly come to pass. Rev. 1. 1. — The sentiment here is 
the same as in many other places. Christ acted as his 
Father's delegate, and derived all his authority from him. 
His mediatorial and delegated office will continue till the 
consummation of all things, when, every opposing power 
being brought into subjection, he will deliver up his office 
to his Father, and God shall be. all in all. 

It is possible these answers to objections may not give 
satisfaction to the minds of some readers. Nor is it likely 
that any thing, which can be written upon so profound a 
subject, will give satisfaction to every reader. Difficul- 
ties will occur, what opinions soever we embrace. But 
if difficulties attending a doctrine, otherwise well estab- 
lished on scripture evidence, are permitted to operate upon 
the mind, to its entire subversion, there is no one principle 
eithei of natural or revealed religion, however important in 
itself, that can possibly keep its ground. Many of the doc- 
trines of religion are attended with circumstances of the most 
palpable incomprehensibility to the present confined and 
limited powers of man. The existence and perfections of 
God, the immortality of the human soul, the resurrection of 
the body: who can enumerate the difficulties attending 
these indisputable doctrines of natural and revealed religion ? 
But when once a doctrine is firmly established upon a scrips 
tural foundation, the difficulties attending a full compre- 
hension of it must give way, in every case short of contra- 
diction ♦ 



60 



MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



PART I. 



There are some other passages of scripture that are 
supposed to militate against the divinity of Christ, but 
which all admit of a reasonable solution. Those I have 
mentioned seem the strongest of any. If the reader is 
dissatisfied with the answers given, he may have recourse to 
the Commentators, where they are considered more at large. 
Whitby alone, on the New Testament, will be found com- 
petent to the satisfying of the scruples of all dispassionate 
inquirers into the truths of the divine word. To him, there- 
fore, I will refer the reader whenever he is pressed with an 
objection to the Divinity of his Saviour. The great Dr. 
John Owen, when speaking on this subject, says : — For 
my part, I do not see in any thing, but that the testimonies 
given to the God-head of Christ, the eternal Son of God, 
are every way as clear and unquestionable as those are, 
which testify to the Being of God, or that there is any God 
at all* 

That is a fine simile of the honourable Robert Boyle 
where he says : — " As among the stars, that shine in the 
firmament, though there be a disparity of greatness com- 
pared one to another, yet they are all of them lucid and 
celestial bodies, and the least of them far vaster than any 
thing on earth ; so of the two testaments, that compose the 
bible, though there may be some disparity in relation to 
themselves, yet are they both heavenly and instructive 
volumes, and inestimably out-valuing any the earth affords, 
or human pens ever traced. And I must add, that, as 
mineralists observe, rich mines are wont to lie hid in 
those grounds, whose surface bears no fruit trees, nor is well 
stored with useful plants or verdure ; so divers passages of 
holy writ, which appear barren and unpromising to our first 
survey, and hold not obviously forth instructions or promises, 
being by a sedulous artist searched into, afford, out of their 
penetrated bowels, rich and precious mysteries of di- 
vinity f. 

I observe still farther, that the word of God is the best 
authority in the world upon every subject where it is con- 
cerned. Where any particular proposition occurs, we may be 
well satisfied that such proposition contains an undoubted 

* On the Trinity, p. 40. t On the Style of Scripture, 4th Obj. p. 109. 



SECT. 3. 



Divinity of Jesus. 



61 



truth, whether we are able to comprehend all the reasons of 
it or otherwise. The government of the world belongs 
not to man. What is therein delivered is as firm as the 
throne of God. His power is engaged to fulfil what his 
mouth hath spoken. And as he is a God without iniquity, 
just: and right in all his ways, we may be assured, what he 
hath declared by his servants, the Prophets and Apostles, 
every jot and tittle^shall be found true. It is inconsistent 
with his nature to set his seal to a lie. If therefore any 
particular doctrine is found in the lively Oracles, we hesitate 
not to embrace it as the truth of God, even though it should 
be liable to a variety of objections. 

f When philosophy and the scripture seem to disagree, 
it is always the safest course to believe what is taught by 
God, whose exact veracity is included in his most perfect 
nature, who possesses an intellect, not only of a superior 
order to ours, but truly omniscient, and who does most clearly 
know, not only all gradual verities, and all those, that are 
but conditional truths, or grounded upon suppositions, but 
all the complete, absolute and eternal truths, that our phi- 
losophy and reasonings are built on : and, most probably, 
many more, neither attained, nor so much as attainable, by 
natural reason; though never so well improved by mere 
human philosophy 

No doctrine of revelation, indeed, can be true that 
is contrary to any other doctrine either of nature or of 
revelation : nor can any be founded in truth that is not 
perfectly consistent with the purest principles of sound 
reason and philosophy. But surely it cannot be justly 
argued from this concession, that no doctrine is to be em- 
braced but what we fully comprehend. We believe the 
existence, the eternity, the immensity, the omnipotence, 
the omniscience, and every other perfection of the Su- 
preme Being : but what man upon earth pretends to com- 
prehend how these things are ? Reason and revelation 
concur in establishing the reality of the facts 5 but neither 
reason nor revelation inform us how they are. And it is, 
moreover, exceedingly probable, that if we had been in- 
formed much more fully concerning these deep things of 



* Boyle's Christian Virtuoso, p, 680, 



62 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. PART fi. 

God, we have no powers to comprehend them. Yet we 
believe them, and act upon the persuasion, through the 
whole course of our lives. In like manner we believe the 
unity of God. Thus we are confirmed in the persuasion 
of both, by reason and revelation. But while reason has 
nothing to reply, being lost in the profundity of the sub- 
ject, revelation informs us, that in this unity of nature, 
there are three persons, distinguished by the names of 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; three persons engaged for 
the salvation of the human race, to whom are frequently 
ascribed divine and incommunicable perfections. Not 
knowing how to reconcile these things in any other or 
better manner, we say, the Godhead is one, but the per- 
sons in that one Godhead are three : and we worship this 
one Godhead under these three personal distinctions : To 
the Father, the fountain of the Godhead, we ascribe, em- 
phatically, Creation ; to the Son, Redemption ; and to the 
Holy Ghost, Sanctification ; and in this order we pay our 
adorations. These principles we believe, and these prac- 
tices we observe, not because we pretend to comprehend 
the mode and manner how the one is three, and three 
are one ; but because the holy scriptures have given us 
this information. We receive the doctrine on what we 
conceive to be the authority of heaven. Our scriptures 
teach us this doctrine. We have examined the authenti- 
city and authority of those scriptures, and we find that 
authenticity to be unquestionable, and that authority to be 
such as commands our assent. While this is our situation, 
we can do no other than embrace the doctrine of the 
Sacred Three. Not to do so would be absolute rebellion 
against the highest obligations, and to involve ourselves in 
deserved condemnation. If we err herein, we err in good 
company. If we are mistaken, we mistake with the greatest 
and best of men. Friends and enemies have concurred 
in sentiment with us, that the scriptures do actually con- 
tain the doctrine. Jews, Heathens, Mahometans, all con- 
cur with the great body of Christians from the beginning, 
that the doctrine of the Trinity is a doctrine of our New 
Testament. We are so far, therefore, from feeling shame 
at being thought to embrace this sentiment, that we glory 
in the principle before the assembled world of infidels and 



SECT. 3. 



Divinity of Jesus. 



63 



philosophers, and are persuaded that it throws a divine lustre 
over the records of our salvation, and makes them worthy 
of God to reveal, and of all acceptation by man *. 

* See the divinity of Christ and the doctrine of the Holy Trinity- 
vindicated from the objections of Socinians in the 44th Sermon of Arch- 
bishop Tillotson, 



A PLEA 

FOR THE 

DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART SECOND 



SECTION I, 

INFORMATION CONCERNING THE MESSIAH FOR THE FIRST 
THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF THE WORLD. 



Division of the Work, — Jesus the Seed of the Woman. — 
Enoch's Prophecy. — Promise made to Abraham — to 
Isaac — to Jacob. — Paraphrase of Onhelos — of Jona- 
than. — The true Melchizedek: — 'Brazen Serpent* — 
Chaldee Paraphrase. — Prophecy of Balaam.-— * Job's 
prophetic testimony. — Jesus the Anointed King. 

The general observations intended being dispatched, we 
will now proceed to investigate the several doctrines them- 
selves. And that this may be done with greater precision/ 
let it first be considered, what genuine Christianity is.— 
Real Christianity, then, it will be granted by every person, 
let his private views of it be what they may, is that mode 
of worshipping and serving the Almighty, which the gospel 
of Christ requires of us. Whoever serves God in this way, 
is truly religious. Whoever serves God in any other way,' 
if he lives under the dispensation of the gospel, is not truly 
religious. f 



66 THE CHARACTER OF MESSIAH, PART IK 

Now, the gospel of our blessed Saviour plainly contains 
the following principles :— I. There is a God.-— 2. Man is 
an accountable creature.— 3. He hath offended his Maker, 
and is become a sinner.-— 4. He hath contracted/ in some 
way or other, wrong propensities, and is now depraved in 
his moral powers.-— 5. He is absolutely incapable of making 
satisfaction to his Creator for the sins he hath committed > 
and equally as incapable of rectifying the disorders of his 
nature, without divine assistance. — 6. God hath taken pity 
on his creature, and provided, and made known, both a 
Saviour to die for his sins, and also a Holy Spirit to rectify 
the moral disorders of his nature.-— 7- This Saviour, and this 
Sanctifier, are spoken of throughout the scripture in terms 
that signify the highest dignity, as being partakers of real 
divinity. 

We will confine ourselves to this last proposition. And, 
in order to examine the matter fully, we will pursue the fol- 
lowing method : — 1 . See what the scriptures inform us con- 
cerning the Saviour. — 2. We will then examine what the 
word of God reveals concerning the Holy Spirit. — 3. Pro- 
duce the scripture account of the Sacred Trinity. — 4. See 
what the ancient Jews thought of these subjects. — 5. What 
the learned Heathen. — 6. What the Christian fathers.— 7* 
We may afterwards throw the whole into one view. 

It is not needful here to prove the existence of a Su- 
preme Being, as it is agreed on all hands, that there is one 9 
and " but one, living and true God, everlasting, without 
body, parts, or passions ; of infinite power, wisdom, and 
goodness ; the Maker and Preserver of all things, both 
visible and invisible." The question is, whether " in the 
unity of this Godhesd there be" not " three persons, of one 
substance, power, and eternity ; the Father, the Son, and 
Holy Ghost ir 

In order to determine this, we will, First, enquire in 
what manner the holy scriptures speak of our blessed 
Saviour. And the several passages to this purpose will be 
best produced, I think, in chronological order, because the 
nearer we come to the time of his birth, the clearer and 
fuller the descriptions usually are. 

1. The first passage we meet with, is that most ancient 
one recorded in Genesis 3. 15. It is a declaration made 



SECT. 1. 



Early Testimonies. 



immediately after the fall of our great progenitor, and about 
four thousand years before Jesus Christ : " I will put en- 
mity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed 
and her seed : it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise 
his heel. Does not " the seed of the woman," the term 
here made use of, seem to imply, that there should be 
something supernatural in the person, or in the birth of the 
Messiah ? * 

Maimonides, one of the greatest and best of the Jewish 
writers, who lived in the twelfth century, saith, " This is 
one of the passages in scripture which is most wonderful,, 
and not to be understood, according to the letter ; but con- 
tains great wisdom in it." f 

This prophetic scripture is applied to the Messiah by 
the most learned of the ancient Jews, as appears both from 
the Targum ;{; of Jonathan, and that of Jerusalem. The 
former paraphrases the passage thus : — " But I will put en- 
mity between thee and the woman, between the seed of thy 
son and the seed of his sons : and it shall come to pass 
when the sons of the woman shall observe the precepts of 
the law, they will endeavour to smite thee on thy head. 
But when they shall neglect the precepts of the law, thou 
shalt endeavour to bite them on their heel : yet there shall 
be a remedy for them, but for thee there shall not be a re- 
medy ; because a remedy shall be produced for the heel in 
the days of king Messiah." The latter paraphrase has it 
thus : — " And it shall come to pass when the children of 
the woman shall observe the law and perform the com- 
mandments, they will endeavour to bruise thy head and 
slay thee ; but when the children of the woman shall neglect 
the precepts of the law, and observe not the commandments, 
thou shalt endeavour to bite them on their heel, and so do 

* Compare Gal. 4. 4 ; and 1 John 3. 8. t More Nevochim, p. 2, 
cap. 30. 

% It may be convenient to observe here, for the sake of the unlearned 
reader, that these Targtuns are paraphrases of the Hebrew scriptures 
into the Chaldean language, and were made before or about the time of 
our Saviour, to accommodate those persons who did not understand the 
pure Hebrew language. A good account of them may be seen in Pri- 
deaux's Connection of the Old and New Testament, part 2. book 8, 



68 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART If, 



them an injury : yet there shall be a remedy for the chil- 
dren of the woman, but for thee the serpent there shall be 
no remedy ; nevertheless it shall coma to pass, that they 
shall perform a cure upon each other on the heel, in the 
last days, that is, in the days of king Messiah." 

2. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, by a prophetic 
spirit, said, " Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand 
of his saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince 
all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds, 
which they have ungodlily committed, and of all their hard 
speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." 
Jude 14, 15. If the Son of God is represented in this pro- 
phetic passage of scripture as the Judge of the world ; it 
is an office, surely, very much above the abilities of any 
merely human being, however exalted by the favour of his 
Maker. Compare 1 Thes. 4. 14—18. 

3. The next passage which speaks of our Saviour, is Gen. 
1,2. 1 — 3. a promise made to Abraham about 430 years 
after the flood, and 1920 years before the Messiah came 
into the world : " Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, 
Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from 
thy father's house,, unto a land that I will show thee : and I 
will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and 
make thy name great ; and thou shalt be a blessing. And 
I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curse th 
thee : and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." 
This promise was first made to Abraham when he was *J-5 
years of age, and afterwards repeated to him nine or ten 
different times ; once the same year; once three }ears after; 
twice exactly five years after; once sixteen years after; 
two or three times again the same year ; and once more 
when he was 125 years of age, and his son Isaac twenty-five. 
All these repetitions of the promise were fundamentally the 
same, though made with some little variation in the expres- 
sion. Compare Gal. 3. S, 16; and Mat. 1. I. 

4. About 1800 years before the birth of Christ, and 120 
after the calling of Abraham, God appeared to Isaac and 
renewed to him the promise which had been so frequently 
made to his father. This was repeated to him but twice : 
u The Lord appeared unto Isaac, and said, Go not down into 
Egypt : dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of. So- 



SECT. i. 



Early Testimonies. 



6?) 



journ in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless 
thee : for unto thee and unto thy seed I will give all these 
countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto 
Abraham thy father. And I will make thy seed to multiply 
as the stars of heaven, and I will give unto thy seed all 
these countries : and in thy seed shall all the nations of the 
earth be blessed ; because that Abraham obeyed my voice, 
and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and 
my laws." Gen. 26. 2 — 5. And again, in a more com- 
pendious form, at the twenty-fourth verse of the same 
chapter. 

5. Several years afterwards God appeared to Jacob, and 
renewed to him the promise of his fathers, Abraham and 
Isaac, and nearly in the same words : (< 1 am the Lord God 
of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac ; the land 
whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. 
And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth ; and thou 
shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the 
north, and to the south : and in thee, and in thy seed, shall 
all the families of the earth be blessed." Gen. 28. 13, 14. 
We have the authority of the two great apostles, Peter and 
Paul, for applying the promise here made to Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob, at different periods, to the Messiah. In- 
deed the words are applicable to no other person that ever 
was born into the world, and therefore they have been 
rightly interpreted by all antiquity. 

6*. The prayer of good old Jacob for the children of his 
son Joseph, in Genesis 48. 15, 16. seems to have been ad- 
dressed to the Messiah, whom he calls " the Angel which 
redeemed him from alt evil : And Jacob blessed Joseph, 
and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac 
did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this 
day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the 
lads." Many of the most learned, both of the ancient Jews 
and Christians, understood this passage of no other than the 
Son of God, the Angel of the covenant, in whom God's 
name dwelt j * for God the Father is never called an angel. 

* See an excellent Dissertation on this subject by Allix, at the end of 
his " Judgment of the Jewish Church against the Unitarians." Consult 
also Ainsworth and Patrick on the place, 

F 3 



70 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART II. 



Indeed there would be the most manifest impropriety in 
such a denomination. For by whom should the Father of 
the universe be sent ? 

7. The next promise we have of the Messiah is in Gene- 
sis 49. 10. " The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor 
a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and 
unto him shall the gathering of the people be." This was 
given about 1690 years before the birth of our Saviour, and 
is generally understood both by Jews and Christians of the 
Messiah. Onkelos paraphrases this verse in the following 
manner : — " He that hath dominion shall not be removed 
from the house of Judah, nor a scribe from the sons of his 
children, until Messiah comes, whose is the kingdom, and 
whom the people shall obey." The Jerusalem Targum is 
much the same " Kings shall not fail from the house of 
Judah, nor skilful teachers of the law from the sons of his 
children, until the time when king Messiah shall come. 
His is the kingdom, and him at length shall all the king- 
doms of the earth obey. How beautiful is king Messiah, 
who shall arise from the house of Judah !" f 

8. " I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord." Gen. 
49. 18. Jonathan paraphrases the verse thus: — "Jacob 
said when he saw (by the prophetic Spirit with which he 
was inspired) Gideon the son of Joash, and Samson the son 
of Manoah, who should be deliverers : The salvation of 
Gideon I expect not, neither the salvation of Samson do I 
regard, because their salvation is a temporal salvation ; but I 
expect and regard thy salvation, O Lord, because thy salva- 
tion is an everlasting salvation." The Jerusalem Targum 
runs thus : — " Our father Jacob said, My soul expects not 
the redemption of Gideon the son of Joash, which is tem- 
poral ; neither ihe redemption of Samson, which is a 
created salvation; but the redemption which thou hast 
declared by thy word shall come to thy people the children 
of Israel ; this thy salvation my soul waiteth for.-— The 
lesser Venetian copy of the Targum is somewhat different : — 
" Our father Jacob said in his prophecy, I have expected 
thy redemption, O Lord; not the redemption of Gideon — 

t See Prideaux's Connection, part 2d. book 8. page 579, 530, on 
this verse. Consult too Ainsworth and Patrick on the place. * 



sect. 1, Early Testimonies. Jfl 



not the redemption of Samson — but the redemption of the 
Messiah, the son of David, which will be for the deliverance 
of the children of Israel, and their freedom from bondage. 
This thy salvation my soul waits for 

Thus the salvation here spoken of, was understood by the 
ancient Jews to be the salvation of Messiah, who is addres- 
sed by the dying Patriarch by the incommunicable name 
Jehovah f. Nor is there any thing strained and far fetched 
in this supposition, when we consider, that he gave indis- 
putable proofs of being under divine influence, by predict- 
ing the fortunes of his children to the latest generations. 
And as it is allowed on all hands, that he prophesied of the 
coming of Christ in the tenth verse, it was very natural for 
the good old man to break out, in the course of his pro> 
phetic discourse, when almost spent, and ready to expire 
with fatigue ; " I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord £? 
I long to see that happy day, when thou shalt appear ibr the 
deliverance of thy people. If this is a just view, Jacob, as 
well as Abraham, foresaw the day of Christ. 

9.* The story of Melchizedek, recorded in the four- 
teenth of Genesis, should have come in immediately after the 
mention of Abraham ; but as Abraham's history and that of 
Isaac and Jacob are so closely concerned, we have reserved 
it for this place, that it might not interfere with them. 
The history of this pious priest and king, then, as expound- 
ed by the great Apostle of the Gentiles, contains an unques- 
tionable proof, not only of the pre-existence, but of the 
eternal existence, of our blessed Saviour. For, because this 
eminent type of Christ had no beginning of days recorded 
of him, the Apostle says, he " was without father, without 
mother, without descent, having neither- beginning of days, 
nor end of life ; and in these respects he was made like 
unto the Son of God, and abideth a priest continual ly." 
" What Melchizedek was figuratively, Christ was really, 
Melchizedek had neither beginning of days, nor end of life, 
nothing being recorded in scripture with regard to his birth 
or death, consequently the Son of God had in reality neither 

* See Fleming's Christology, p. 142, 
t Possibly, the Jehovah here addressed may not mean king Messiah, 
l>ut rather the Father of Jesus Christ. It seems ambiguous. 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART II . 



beginning of days or end of life *. w Comp. Gen. 14. 17-— 
24., with Heb. 7- 1—10. 

10. If we compare Exod. 17. 7, with 1 Cor. 10. 9, we 
shall have an incontestable proof, that the Christ mentioned 
in the latter place is the Jehovah described in the former, 
and consequently, that he is possessed of real and proper 
divinity, because the name Jehovah is allowed on all hands 
to be incommunicable : 66 And Moses called the name of 
the place Massah and Meribah, because of the children of 
Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the 
Lord among us or not ?" The Apostle's words are, " Nei- 
ther let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and 
were destroyed of serpents f." How could they tempt 
Christ, if he had no existence ? It is evident, therefore, 
from this single comparison, that Paul believed the pre- 
existence, at least, of our blessed Saviour, and from various 
other places, that he was a determined advocate for his 
divinity. Compare Gal. 3. 8, 17. Dr. Priestley finds him- 
self so pressed with these and such like passages, that he has 
no way of answering them, but by saying of the Apostles in 
general, that they often applied the scriptures very im- 
properly, and with no better judgment than their unbe- 
lieving countrymen;" and of Paul in particular that he 
(( often reasons inconclusively. " Socinianism must be hard 
put to it, before declarations like these could be made by 
one of its most able and zealous advocates, seeing it is in 
fact a yielding the day to orthodoxy. 

11. "The people spake against God and against Moses. 
And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and 
they bit the people ; and much people of Israel died. There- 
fore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned; 
for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee : pray 
unto the Lord, that he may take away the serpents from us. 
And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto 
Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole : 
and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, 

* Jortin's remarks on Eccl. Hist. vol. 3. p. 89. See also Waterland's 
Eight Sermons, p. 248; 

t 1 Cor. 10. 9. Consult Whitby on this verse, where the present read- 
ing and application are defended. See also Hawker's Sermons on the 
Divinity of Christ, p. 102. 



SECT. 1 . 



Early Testimonies. 



73 



when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a 
serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole ; and it came to 
pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld 
the serpent of brass, he lived." Numb. 21. 5 — 9. The 
Chaldee paraphrase applies this passage to the Messiah : — 
(C The Lord said unto Moses, make thee a brazen serpent, 
and set it in a high place ; and it shall come to pass, that 
if a serpent bite any one, if he looketh upon it he shall live, 
if he direct his heart to the name of the Word of the Lord. 
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it in a high 
place ; and it came to pass whensoever a serpent had bitten 
any man, if he beheld the serpent of brass, and directed 
his heart to the name of the Word of the Lord, he lived 

Our Saviour himself acknowledges the application of 
the brazen serpent to the name of the Word of the Lord 
where he says, " As Moses lifted up the serpent in the 
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up ; that 
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have 
eternal life." John 3. 14, 15. And Paul expressly says, 
that it was Christ, who was tempted by the disobedient 
Jews in the wilderness. 6( Neither let us tempt Christ, 
says he, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed 
of serpents." 1 Cor. 10. 9. These two applications of the 
history of the brazen serpent to our blessed Saviour, seem 
to render it morally certain, that both Christ and Paul 
understood the passage in the sense of the Chaldee para- 
phrast, and that the said Paraphrast, was right in his 
application of it to the Messiah. But if this is granted, 
then it will follow that Christ is the Word of the Lord to 
whom the wounded Israelites prayed for healing, conse- 
quently that he existed before his being born of the Virgin, 
and of course that the Socinian hypothesis is without any 
foundation in the holy scriptures. 

12. Balaam, the prophet of the Gentiles, foretels the 
coming of an extraordinary person : — u I shall see him, but 
not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall 
come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of 
Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all 

* Targum of Jonathan. 



74 



CHARACTER OP MESSIAH. 



PART II. 



the children of Sheth," Num. 24. 17 *- These words were 
spoken about 1450 years before Christ, and nearly 900 after 
the flood; and are applied to Christ by all the three Targums 
of Onkelos, Jonathan, and Jerusalem. The paraphrase is to 
the following effect : — n A king shall arise out of the house 
of Jacob, and the Messiah shall be anointed of the house of 
Israel V 

13. About the same period, in all probability, is to be 
placed the prophetic declaration of Job. Chap. 19. 25 — 27. 
" I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand 
at the latter day upon the earth : and though after my skin, 
worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God : 
whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, 
and not another/ ' If these words are spoken by the Spirit 
of prophecy concerning the Messiah, then it is clear he 
existed before the birth of his mother. It is probable too, 
that it is the same person whom he calls God, and declares 
he shall see him in the flesh. Every man must torm a 
judgment according to the evidence before him. Very good 
and able men have appeared on each side of the question f . 

14. Near the time that Balaam delivered the prophecy 
concerning the star and sceptre, we find Moses, the man of 
God, foretelling the advent of a very distinguished prophet: 
— " The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet 
from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto 
him shall ye hearken." Deut. 18. 15 — 19. This remarkable 
^prophecy is applied in the Acts of the Apostles to our 
blessed Saviour by two infallible persons. But as the ap- 
plication is not disputed, it will be unnecessary to produce 
it here. That the ancient Jews expected their Messiah to 
be more than man, is evident from the saying which was 
common among them, that he should be exalted above Abra- 
ham, lifted up above Moses, and higher than the angels of 
the ministry 4 

* See Pridaux's Connection, part 2. book 8. p. 580, and Patrick upon 
the place. 

t See Mr. Peters's Critical Dissertation on the book of Job, and Mr. 
Scott's Appendix to his Translation of the same book, No. 3, where these 
words are proved to be applicable to the Messiah. Dr. Durell, however, 
in his Critical Remarks rejects this application to the Messi ah, and says 
that our best Commentators have justly exploded this meaning. 

t See Patrick on the passage. See also Hervey's Theron and Aspasio, 
Let. 8. p. 175. 



SECT. 1. 



Early Testimonies, 



75 



15. About 1165 years before his birth, our Saviour is 
prophesied of by Hannah, as a victorious King. Balaam's 
prediction had intimated something of the same idea, by the 
terms star and sceptre, Hannah, however, expressly calls 
him a King : " The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken 
to pieces : out of heaven shall he thunder upon them ; the 
Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, and he shall give 
strength unto his King, and exalt the horn of his Anointed/* 
1 Sam. 2. 10.* The former part of this prophecy was ful- 
filled about forty years afterwards, as appears from the se- 
venth chapter of the same book, and the latter part in the 
exaltation of Messiah to be king of the universe. 

These several promises and predictions, it will be ob- 
served, are surrounded with a considerable degree of obscu- 
rity. But that Messiah should be a Prophet, Priest, and 
Ki?ig, is sufficiently clear. And that there should be some- 
thing super-human in his person, is strongly intimated ; but 
wherein the peculiar singularity of his person should consist, 
was left to future revelations more fully to make known. 
We will proceed to them in order. 

* This is the first time Messiah, or Anointed, occurs in the bible. 
And D. Kimchi, the famous Jewish writer, who lived towards the close 
of the twelfth century, ingenuously acknowledges, that " the King here 
mentioned is the Messiah ; of whom Hannah spake either by prophecy or 
tradition." See Patrick on the place. 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART II. 



PART SECOND. 



SECTION II. 



INFORMATION CONCERNING MESSIAH, FROM THE PSALMS 
AND WRITINGS OF DAVID. 

The Psalms of David contain many clear prophecies of 
Jesus.— -Prophets and Apostles moved by the Holy 
Ghost. — Various circumstances respecting Messiah in 
the second Psalm. — -Titles ascribed to him in the 
Psalms : — Shepherd — Lord of Hosts— King of Glory 
- — Atoning Sacrifice — Light — Truth.— Stability of 
his throne.— His glorious ascension. — How Justin 
Martyr understood the seventy-second Psalm. — Jesus, 
the God iv ho ivas tempted by the Jews in the Wilder- 
ness. — David's last ivords a clear prophecy of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. 

Tije Psalms of David were written at different periods 
of his reign, about a thousand and forty years before the 
birth of our Saviour. Some of them too were composed by 
other authors, on various occasions, but all before the birth 
of Christ. Several of them are undoubtedly prophetic, and 
foretel a variety of circumstances concerning the life, death, 
resurrection, ascension, and universal dominion of the Son 
of God. But, before we enter upon the consideration of 
those psalms, which predict these several circumstances, it 
is needful to observe, that we shall take for granted, in this 
investigation, the truth of every part both of the Old and 
New Testament ; that all the Old Testament prophecies 
were " given by inspiration of God, and that holy men of 



SECT. 2. 



Early Testimonies of David. 



77 



God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost *" and 
that the same Divine Spirit, which dictated the writings of 
the Old, directed the minds of the Apostles and Evange- 
lists, in their application of them in the New : consequently 
every prophecy of the Old, which is applied to Jesus Christ 
in the New, is rightly applied 5 is applied according to the 
mind, and original intention of that Divine Spirit. He that 
suggested ideas in the former, applied these ideas in the 
latter, according to his own will. 

" We cannot think the Jews were so void of Judgment 
as to imagine that the Apostles, or any one else in the 
world, had a right to produce the simple words of the Old 
Testament, and to urge them in any other sense, than what 
was intended by the writer, directed by the Holy Ghost. 
It must be his sense as well as his words, that should be 
offered for proof to convince a reasonable man. But we see 
that the Jews did yield to such proofs out of scripture con- 
cerning the Messiah, in which some critics do not see the 
force of those arguments that were convincing to the Jews. 
They must then have believed, that the true sense of such 
places was the literal sense in regard of the Messias, whom 
God had then in view at his inditing of these books ; and 
that it was not literal in respect to him, who seems at first 
sight to have been intended by the prophecy 

" The writers of the New Testament frequently quote 
passages from the Old, either in proof of their doctrine, or 
to shew, that the predictions of Prophets are fulfilled. 
Whenever this is their point in view, the passages they quote 
from the Old Testament must, in their literal sense, signify 
what they are alledged to signify. It is an inexcusable 
presumption in Le Clerc and other interpreters of scripture 
to pretend, that the Apostles cite the authority of the Old 
Testament in the Jewish way of drawing conclusions, which 
in sound logic would have been rejected. If they were 
under the influence of the Spirit of God, we cannot suppose 
their writings to contain any false reasoning, however common 
it might be among their countrymen to argue absurdly f." 

T Allix's Judgment, p. 50, 51. Michaelis's Lect. on the N. T. sect. 11, 

For a good view of the applications of the Old Testament, prophecies 
to the events of the New, see this whole section of Michaelis— Marsh's 
Michaelis, vol.1, chap. 5.— -Hartley's Observations on Man, voi. 2. prop. 



78 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART II. 



This being premised, let us now proceed to examine in 
what manner the Psalms of David, and the following Pro- 
phetic scriptures, speak of our blessed Saviour, and how they 
have been applied by his Apostles and others, under the 
new dispensation. 

16.* The second psalm is undoubtedly prophetic and is 
more than once applied to Christ by those who can neither 
deceive, nor be deceived*. In the first, and historical 
sense, it unquestionably refers to king David. In the full, 
and most important sense, it received its accomplishment 
in king Messiah alone. David is the type, Christ is the 
antitype. What the former was in the shadow, the latter 
was in substance. In this psalm we have various circum- 
stances respecting the Messiah. 1. That he should meet 
with much opposition. 2. That he should be a great king. 
3. That he should prevail against all his adversaries. 4. 
That he should be the Son of Godf. 5. That he should 
reign over all nations. 6. That all mankind must submit 
to him or him to be miserable. 7- That all who believed 
in the Son of God, and put their trust in him for salvation, 
obeying his commands, shall assuredly be happy. — The 
present Jews deny all this, and explain the whole psalm of 
David alone ; but the ancient Jews, as appears from the 

32 and 33. — Allix's Judgment, chapters 2, 3, and 4. Dr. Randolph's Pro- 
phecies and other Texts cited in the New Testament compared with the 
original Hebrew and the Septuagint — See, moreover, Dr. Henry Owen's 
Modes of Quotation used by the Evangelical Writers explained and 
vindicated. 

It was well spoken by Clemens Romanus — " Look, brethren, into the 
holy scriptures, which are the true words of the Holy Ghost. Ye know 
that there is nothing unjust and counterfeit written in them." Epist. ad 
Corint. sect. 45. 

* Acts 4. 25, 26 ;— Acts 13. 33 Heb. 1. 5 ; and 5. 5. 

t The learned Selden assures us, that " by the Son of God the Jews 
meant, the Word of God, as he is called in the Chaldee Paraphrast, which 
was all one as to profess himself God." — De Jure Nat. et Gent 1. 2. c. 12. 

Our learned Pocock also saith, that, " according to the sense of the 
ancient Jews, the Son of God, spoken of in the second Psalm, was the 
eternal Son of God, of the same substance with the Father." Not. 
Miscel. ad. Maim. p. 307, &c. 

These two notes are taken from Stillingfleet on the Trinity, p. 144. 

See Pridaux's Connection on this psalm ; p. 2. c. 8. p. 583. — Consult 
also Waterland's Defence of some Queries, p. 134—163, where the ques- 
tion of the Son's generation is discussed at some length. 



sect. 2. Early Testimonies of David. 79 

Targum, understood it of Messiah, as we Christians now 
do*. I know none but the Socinians who deny it. 

17. In the eighth psalm, as applied by Paul, we have a 
prediction of the humiliation and exaltation of our blessed 
Saviour. Heb. 2. 6' -9. 

18. In the sixteenth psalm, as applied by Peter and 
Paul, we have a prediction of the death, resurrection, and 
glorification of Jesus Christ. Acts 2. 31, and 13. 35. 

19. The nineteenth psalm is applied to Messiah by 
Justin Martyr, and the twenty-first psalm by the Chaldee 
Paraphrast. 

20. The twenty-second psalm describes, in a very par- 
ticular manner, the sufferings of our blessed Redeemer. 
There are some expressions in it which seem applicable to 
no other event which ever took place among men. It is 
quoted or alluded to, nearly twenty times in the New Testa- 
ment. 

21. The twenty- third psalm was applied to the Messiah 
by the ancient Jews f, and Jesus himself, probably, alluded 
to it, when he called himself " the good shepherd who 
giveth his life for the sheep." If so, then Jesus Christ is 
the Jehovah mentioned in the psalm. 

Mr. Jones, in his Catholic Doctrine, has the following 
arguments upon the character of our blessed Saviour as a 
Shepherd ; how far they are conclusive for his divinity I 
leave the reader to determine: — Ps. 23. 1. The Lord is 
my shepherd. — John 10. 16. There shall he one fold and 
one shepherd. If Christ be not the Lord, in unity with the 
Father, there must of course be two distinct beings, to 
whom the scripture has appropriated this character of a 
shepherd; and that would make two shepherds. But Christ 
has affirmed there is but one shepherd, and that is himself, 
the Shepherd of the sheep, ver. 2. whom Peter calls the 
chief shepherd. 1 Pet. 5. 4. So again — Ps. 1Q0. 3. Know 
ye that the Lord he is God—ive are his people and the 
sheep of his pasture. — John 10. 3. He (Christ) calleth his 
own sheep. And again — John 21. 16. Feed my sheep } 
said Christ to Peter : which, in the language of Peter him- 
self. 1 Peter 5. 2. is-— Feed the flock of God. 

* See Allix's Judgment, p, 402, and Prideaux's Connec. p, 2. b, 8, 
t See Allix's Judgment, p. 27.5 and 504, 



80 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART II. 



22. The twenty-fourth psalm was likewise applied to the 
Messiah by the ancient Jews *, and by several of the most 
learned of the Christian fathers. If it is rightly applied, 
then Christ was the Lord of hosts, and the King of glory, 
long before he took upon him human nature f. And this is 
the more probable, as he is unquestionably called in the 
New Testament, the Lord of glory. 

23 * The fortieth psalm, as explained and applied by 
Paul, foretels the sacrifice and atonement of Christ for the 
sins of the world J. The Psalmist says, "Sacrifice and 
offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened : 
burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required : then 
said I, Lo, I come : in the volume of the book it is written 
of me : I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law 
is within my heart:" Thus applied by the Apostle: — 
" The law having a shadow of good things to come, and not 
the very image of the things, can never with those sacri- 
fices which they offered year by year continually, make the 
comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have 
ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once 
purged, should have had no more conscience of sins. But 
in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of 
sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of 
bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when 
he cometh into the world he saith, Sacrifice and offering 
thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me : in 
burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no 
pleasure : then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the 
book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God. Above, 
when he said, Sacrifice and offering, and burnt-offerings, 

* See Allix's Judgment, p. 416. 
t The Fathers who apply this psalm to the Messiah are Justin Martyr, 
Origen, Cyprian, Eusebius, and Ambrose. See Waterland's Eight Ser- 
mons, p. 230. 

Justin Martyr, in particular, writing on this psalm, expressly calls 
Christ, *.*. God, and the Lord of Hosts." 

Let it be observed here once for all, that, I lay no stress upon any 
applications of the psalms, or other prophetic scriptures, by the ancient 
Jews or Christians to the Messiah, unless the passages have been applied 
in the same manner by the writers of the New Testament, or the context 
itself fairly justifies the application. Such applications, however, even 
though erroneous, incontestibly prove, that the Ancients were warm 
advocates for the pre-existence and divinity of our Saviour. 

% Ps. 40. 6—10. 



sect. 2. Testimony of David. SI 



and offering for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure 
therein, (which are offered by the law) then said he, Lo, I 
come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that 
he may establish the second. By the which will w T e are 
sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ 
once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering 
and offering oftentimes the same sacrifice, which can never 
take away sins : but this man after he had offered one 
sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God ; 
from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his 
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them 
that are sanctified." Heb. 10. 1 — 14 *. 

This is a remarkable application of the words of the 
Psalmist, and never can be understood or justified, but upon 
the principle of a real, proper, and sufficient sacrifice, obla- 
tion, and satisfaction for the sins of the world, made by the 
death of Christ. No man, can give any other tolerable 
meaning to the passage. But, if this is the case, Socini- 
anism falls to the ground. Let the reader, however, com- 
pare the two passages together, and judge for himself. 

24. The third verse of the forty-third psalm is applied 
to Messiah by the ancient Jews; " O send out thy light and 
thy truth" In perfect conformity with this idea, our 
Saviour is called in the New Testament both light and 
truth f. 

25. * The forty-fifth psalm is applied to our Saviour in 
the New Testament, in a manner that seems decisive for his 
divinity. " Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever." 
Paul quotes the passage thus : — " But unto the Son he 
saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever : a sceptre 
of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast 
loved righteousness, and hated iniquity : therefore God, 
even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness 
above thy fellows." Heb. 1. 8, 9. Christ, therefore, is God, 
and the Son of God. — In the word Christ, u there is under- 
stood the Anointer, the Anointed, and the Unction. The 
Anointer is the Father, the Anointed is the Son, and the 

* For an able defence of the doctrine of atonement see Veysie's eight 
Sermons at ti;e Bampton Lecture. 

t See Allix's Judgment; p. 44 ; John 9.5 ■ 14. 6. Compare Mai. 4. 2, 

G 



82 



CHARACTER OF MESS I AH 0 



PART II. 



Unction is the Spirit ; as he saith by the prophet Isaiah, 
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anoint- 
ed me; signifying the Father who anointeth, the Son who 
is anointed, and the Spirit who is the oil — It ought not 
to be concealed, says Dr. Clarke, that the words, Thy 
throne, O God, is forever and ever, may with equal pro- 
priety, both from the Greek and Hebrew, be also thus ren- 
dered, God is thy throne forever and ever : that is, God is the 
support of thy throne forever and ever f. Dr. Priestley follows 
Clarke in this supposition, and what the latter says may be 
the translation, the latter asserts must be so. These two 
learned Doctors may as well say, because the thing is pos- 
sible, therefore a man may with equal propriety stand upon 
his head as his feet. They should have observed, however, 
that by the concurring testimony of Commentators both 
ancient and modern, this passage is applied to the Messiah 
according to the common acceptation. Learned men should 
not be so uncandid. What is it we all want but to arrive at 
truth, the real truth as it is in scripture ? — The ancient 
Jews, in the Chaldee paraphrase, expressly apply this psalm 
to king Messiah J. — This passage too, " Thy throne, O 
God, is forever and ever," is applied to the Son of God 
by most of the Christian fathers, in the sense here repre- 
sented. §. 

26. The forty-seventh psalm, which is much in the 
same style with the twenty-fourth, is also applied to our 
Saviour both by the ancient Jews and Christians ||. It 
appears to me, however, that no conviction can be pro- 
duced in the mind from this, and similar applications, 
We can only say, with certainty, they are accommodations* 
But yet all such accommodations, whether right or wrong, 
imply, that, in the judgment of the persons so applying 
them, the Messiah was to be a person possessed of perfec- 
tions strictly divine. 

* Irenaeus Lib. 3. c. 20. t Script. Doct. p. 77. 

% Seethe Paraphrase itself, and Prideaux's Connection, p. 2. b.. 8. p. 
583. 

§ See Justin Martyr's Dial, cum Tryph. p. 277. C. D. Ed. Col. 1686- 
Irenaeus, lib. 3. c. 6. Tert. adv. Prax. c. 13. Orig. cont. Cel. p. 43. Edit. 
Cant. Lact. 1. 4. Lib. cont. Marc. c. 20. and Chrysostt serm. 3. ad Heb. 

|| See Allix's Judgment, p. 404, and Justin Martyr's Dialogue with 
Trypho, likewise Eusebius on the 28d psalnu 



SECT. 2. 



Testimony of David. 



83 



27. The sixty-first psalm is very particularly applied to 
king Messiah by the Chaldee paraphrast. 

28. * The sixty-eighth psalm is applied in like manner 
by an infallible guide : — " The chariots of God are twenty 
thousand, even thousands of angels : the Lord is among 
them as in Sinai, in the holy place. Thou hast ascended 
on high, thou hast led captivity captive : thou hast received 
gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God 
might dwell among them." ver. 17 \ 18. Paul hesitates not 
to apply these words unto our Saviour : — " But unto every 
one of us is given grace according to the measure of the 
gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up 
on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men." 
Eph. 4. 7) 8. Jesus Christ, therefore, according to the ap- 
plication of this inspired Apostle, is the Lord God spoken 
of in the psalm. Clemens Alexandrinus, speaking of this 
passage of scripture, says, the Almighty God himself hath 
given, some apostles, &c. * — and again : — God hath given 
to the church, some indeed apostles, &c. f 

29. The sixty-ninth psalm is descriptive of the suffer- 
ings of Christ, and is applied accordingly in several parts of 
the New Testament. 

30. * The seventy-second psalm, which prophecies of 
the goodness, the glory, the dominion, and the adoration 
of some great king, was generally understood of Messiah, 
both by the ancient Jews, and Christians J. Solomon 
was the type Christ was the antitype. What the former 
was in figure, the latter was in reality. " The language of 
the Psalm itself fully demonstrates," says Justin Martyr, 
" that it refers only to the eternal King, that is, to Christ ; 
for as I make it appear from all the scriptures, Christ is 
therein proclaimed a King, and a Priest, and God, and 
Lord, and an Angel, and a Man, and a Captain of hosts, 1 
and a Stone, and an Infant ; first made liable to sufferings, 
thence ascending up into heaven, and again returning with 
glory, and possessing an eternal kingdom §." 

31. The seventy-eight psalm and fifty-sixth verse, says, 
" They tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept 

* P. 624. ed. Ox, t P. 234. 

% SeeAllix's Judgment, p. 319, and 404. See also Prideaux's Con- 
nection, p. 2. b. 8. p. 583, § Dial, cum Try, p. 251. 

G 2 



84 



CHARATER OF MiESSIAH. 



PART II, 



not his testimonies."' If this too is compared with I Cor. 
10. 9. " Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also 
tempted;" will it not follow that Christ is called the most 
high God ? 

32. The eightieth psalm is uniformly applied by the 
ancient Jews to the Messiah *. 

33. The eighty-ninth psalm also, is understood in the 
same sense, both by the ancient Jews and Christians f. 
Comp. Col. 1. 15, and Rev. 19. 16. 

34. * The ninety- seventh psalm has a passage which is 
applied to the Messiah in the New Testament, strongly ex- 
pressive of his divinity > — " Confounded be all they that 
serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols : wor- 
ship him, all ye gods," ver. 7. X This is quoted by Paul 
in the following manner : — " And again, when he bringeth 
in the First-begotten into the world, he saith, And let all 
the angels of God worship him." Heb. 1. 6. Christ, there- 
fore, is an object of religious homage and adoration, to 
all the angels in heaven, as well as to all the men upon 
earth §. 

35. * Another remarkable passage, applied in the same 
manner, is towards the close of the 102 psalm : — " 1 said, 
O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days : thy 
years are throughout all generations. Of old hast thou laid 
the foundations of the earth : and the heavens are the work 
of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure : yea,, 
all of them shall wax old like a garment ; as a vesture shalt 
thou change them, and they shall be changed : but thou 
art the same, and thy years shall have no end." This fine 
passage is thus applied to the Son of God by the same 
Apostle. — " And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the 
foundation of the earth ; and the heavens are the works of 
thine hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest : and 
they all shall wax old as doth a garment ; and as a vesture 
shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed : but 
thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail." Heb. h 

* See AUix's Jndgment, p. 270. f Ibid. p. 44, 256 and 270* 

% See Leslie's Socinian Controversy discussed, where this verse is ably 
defended, p. 270. 

§ Justin Martyr applies the 99th psalm also to the Messiah. See his 
Dial, cum, Tryp. p. 256. 



SECT. 2. 



Testimony of David. 



85 



10 — 12*. The application of this passage to our blessed 
Saviour by an inspired Apostle seems decisive for his real 
and proper divinity. 

36. * Psa. 106. 14. "They lusted exceedingly in the 
wilderness, and tempted God in the desert." If this is 
compared as before in similar cases with the declaration 
of Paul, " Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them 
also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents." 1 Cor. 
10.9. will it not follow that Christ is the God who was 
tempted ? 

37. * The hundred and tenth psalm is wholly propheti- 
cal, and is written much in the spirit of the second psalm, 
and the sixty-third chapter of Isaiah. David, under the 
image of a young prince, taking possession of a kingdom, 
and going forth to subdue all those who oppose him, fore- 
telleth that the Messiah should be exalted to the right hand 
of God ; should be the king and high-priest of his church; 
and should gloriously establish his kingdom, and triumph 
over all his enemies. — The first verse of this prophetic 
Psalm is expressly applied by Christ to himself : " While 
the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 
saying, What think ye of Christ ? Whose son is he ? They 
say unto him, The son of David. He saith unto them, 
How then doth David in Spirit, or by the Spirit, call him 
Lord, saving, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my 
right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If 
David then call him Lord, how is he his son ?" Mat. 22. 
41 — 45. As the first three and last three verses of the 
psalm predict the kingly office of Messiah, so the third 
predicts his priestly office, and is applied in this manner 
by the Apostle of the Gentiles in the fifth, sixth, and 
seventh chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews. — I observe 
too still farther upon the whole psalm, that as it has re- 
ceived some accomplishment in the destruction of Rome 
Pagan, so it is about to receive a more complete fulfilment 
in the destruction of Rome Christian, and all its appendages. 

38* Psa. 1 10. 3. " The dew of thy birth is of the womb 
of the morning." Or, " In the beauties of holiness from 
the womb of the morning- thou hast the dew of thy youth." 

* See Whitby on the place. 



86 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART II. 



The Septuagint explains this difficult passage hy rendering 
it, " From the womb,, before the morning star I begat 
thee." If this is a just translation it strongly declares for the 
pre-existence of Jesus Christ, and is in the spirit of the 
eighth chapter of Proverbs. If it is not a just translation, 
yet it shews their opinion was, that Messiah existed before 
the foundation of the world. In either case it militates 
powerfully against the Socinian hypothesis. 

39. The last words of this great king, spoken upwards 
of a thousand years before the incarnation of our blessed 
Saviour, are now generally understood to contain a clear 
prophecy of our Lord Jesus Christ. David lived and died 
speaking of Jesus. But as the passage is extremely ob- 
scure in our common translation, I will lay it before the 
reader in a new one by the learned Mr. Green. 

" Now these were the last words of David : 

David the son of Jesse saith, 
Even the man who was raised on high saith, 
The anointed of the God of Jacob, 
And the sweet psalmist of Israel. 

The Spirit of Jehovah speaketh by me, 
And his word is upon my tongue. 

The God of Israel saith, 
Even to me doth the Rock of Israel speak : 

The JUST ONE* ruleth over men ! 
He ruleth in the fear of God. 

As the light of the morning a sun shall rise, 
A morning without clouds for brightness, 
When the tender grass after rain springeth out of the earth,, 

For is not my house established with God? 
Yea, he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, 
Ordered in all things, and observed : 
Surely in him is all my salvation, and all my delight, 

Doubtless the wicked shall not flourish : 
They are all like thorns thrust away, 
Which shall not be taken by the hand, 
But the man, who shall lay hold of them, 
Shall be armed with iron, and the staff of a spear, 
And they shall be utterly burned with fire." 

* This is understood of Messiah both by the Septuagint and the 
Chaldee Paraphrase. 



sect. 3. Testimony of Solomon* 87 



PART SECOND. 
SECTION IIL 

INFORMATION CONCERNING THE MESSIAH, FROM THE 
WRITINGS OF SOLOMON. 

Solomon's fine description of Wisdom ascribed by all 
antiquity to Jesus Christ. — Irenceus, Clemens, and 
Origen quoted. — Paul applies part of Solomon's des- 
cription of Wisdom to the Son of God : — Reference to 
the Fathers. — Proverbs 30. 4. applied to our Lord 
Jesus. — Solomon, a type of Christ. — The Song of 
Songs, a Metaphorical description of the love of Christ 
to his Church. 

40.* Solomon, the son of David, lived a thousand 
years before our Saviour, and hath left us some most in- 
valuable writings. His fine description of wisdom, in the 
eighth chapter of his Proverbs, has been ascribed by all 
antiquity to our blessed Redeemer who is both " the wis- 
dom and power of God % in whom are hid all the treasures 
of wisdom and knowledge f. — The Lord possessed me in 
the beginning of his ways, before his works of old. I was 
set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the 
earth was J. When there were no depths I was brought 

* Cor. 1. 24, t Col. 2. 3* 

t Irenseus says, " We shew that the Word, existent in the beginning 
with God, united himself to the work of his own hands, when he became 
a man capable of suffering." Lib. 3. cap. 20. 

Clemens Alexandrinus also calls the Son, " Existing or begotten 
without commencement." 

Origen too says, " There never was duration when the Son was not; 
but according to the Spirit he was before all things ; and time was not 
when he was not," Opera Orig. Par, Edit. vol. 1, p. 483. 



88 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART 11. 



forth ; when there were no fountains abounding with water. 
When he prepared the heavens I was there ; when he set a 
compass upon the face of the depth ; when he established 
the clouds above ; when he strengthened the fountains of 
the deep ; when he gave to the sea his decree, that the wa- 
ters should not pass his commandment ; when he appointed 
the foundations of the earth : then I was by him, as one 
brought up with him ; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing 
always before him 5 rejoicing in the habitable part of the 
earth : and my delights were with the sons of men." * It 
should seem that this description of wisdom is more than 
a personification : for Paul expressly applies some part of 
it to the Son of God in his epistle to the Hebrews : 
" God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, 
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he 
made the worlds. Who being the brightness of his glory, 
and the express image of his person, and upholding all 
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself 
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty 
on high." Ch. 1. 1—3. 

Since then the description in the book of Proverbs is ap- 
plied in part to the Son of God by an infallible pen, we are at 
full liberty, I think, to apply the whole of it to the same person. 
But if the Wisdom, spoken of in such high terms by Solo- 
mon, is to be understood of the Messiah, then it will follow, 
that, even in the lowest sense of the description, he pre-ex- 
isted, and was present with the Father at the creation of the 
world. It is surely very remarkable, and highly to be re- 
garded, that the great stream of antiquity, both Jewish f 
and Christian, J runs in favour of this interpretation. — 
Neither was it any part of the controversy between the Ca- 
tholics and the Arians in the time of Constantine. They 

* Milton applies the whole of this description to the Son of God. 
Par. Lost, b. 7. 1, 8 t See Allix's Judgment, passim. 

X For the Fathers, see Justin Martyr's Dial, cum Tryph. p. 284, 359. 
Irenaeus, 1. 4. cap. 7. Athenag. p. 10. ed. Par. Clem. Alex. p. 832. 
Tertul. cont. Herm. cap. 18. cont. Prax, c. 6. Orig, Comm. in Johan. 
p. 11. 17, 33. 36. Theoph, Antioch, p. 82, A than, in disput. adv. 
Arium, p, 121, Basil M. adv, Eunom, I, 4, p. 105, Greg, Nyss. adv. 
Eunom, p 78. Hieron, in Pro v. 8, 



SECT. 3. 



Testimony of Solomon, 



89 



both agreed in the application of it to the Redeemer of 
men. 

41. * Near the time of Solomon must be placed the 
words recorded in Prov. 30. 4. " Who hath ascended up 
into heaven, or descended ? Who hath gathered the wind 
in bis fists ? Who hath bound the waters in a garment ? 
Who hath established all the ends of the earth ? What is 
his name, and what is his Son's name, if thou canst tell ?" 
The Creator seems to be here spoken of, and spoken of as 
having a So7i. They are both spoken of too as being incom- 
prehensible.* 

42. " I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to 
me a Son." f These words were spoken originally of 
Solomon : but they are applied both by the ancient Jews 
and Paul to the Messiah. And if God was a figurative 
father to Solomon, who was the type, will it not fol- 
low, that he must be a real father to Christ, who was the 
antitype ? 

43. The Song of Songs was understood by all the an- 
cient Jews to be a book belonging to the sacred canon. 
They universally concurred in supposing, that it was not 
written on account of Solomon's marriage with Pharoah's 
daughter, but in his old age, after his repentance. If this 
is the case, it must be considered in the light of a divine 
allegory, as the fifth chapter of Isaiah, and the forty-fifth 
Psalm. Most Christian divines, I believe, have looked 
upon the whole as a metaphorical description of the love of 
Christ to his church, and of the church to Christ, her hea- 
venly bridegroom. The apostle of the Gentiles pursues 
the same idea in the fifth chapter of his Epistle to the 
Ephesians. If this observation is founded in propriety, 
our Redeemer is here called the Rose of Sharon, and 
the Lily of the valleys — the Chief among ten thousand, 
and altogether lovely. The whole of the poem represents 

* SoHimerus and Francis David, two Socinian writers of the sixteenth 
century, rather than grant that God has a Son, denied the authority of 
the book of Proverbs, and placed it among the apocryphal writings. — 
See Allix's Judgment, p. 428. 

t 2 Sam. 7. 14. Compare Heb, 1. 5. See Allix's Judgment, p, 60, 61, 
where there is a good account of this application. 



90 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART II. 



him as the great object of his people's desire. It is uni- 
formly applied by the Chaldee paraphrase to king Messiah. 
Maimonides says, The whole book is a metaphorical dis- 
course concerning the love of God. * 



Teshuba, last chap. 



SECT. 4. 



Prophetic Testimonies, 



91 



PART SECOND. 



SECTION IV. 
— 



rNFORMATION CONCERNING THE MESSIAH, JROM THE 
WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS AMOS, HOSEA, ISAIAH, AND 
MICAH. 

Prophecy of Amos. — Jesus, JEHOVAH the God of 
Israel. — Quotation from the Chaldee Paraphrase, and 
Novatian. — -Other passages in Hosea prophetic of 
Jesus. — The clearest and fullest predictions of the 
character and ivorks of Christ are found in the Pro- 
phecies of Isaiah. — Several of his Prophecies cited, 
illustrated, and confirmed. — Celebrated prophecy of 
Micah :-—How understood. 

In the writings of the Prophets, all of whom lived some 
ages after Solomon, we find several passages, which strongly 
prove, not only the pre-existence of Jesus Christ, but that 
he is possessed of real and proper divinity. We will pro- 
duce some of the most remarkable of them, and leave the 
reader to judge of the inferences which ought to be drawn 
from this kind of evidence. 

44. The prophet Amos, who began to speak in the name 
of the Lord 787 years before the birth of our Saviour, makes 
mention of two persons that were concerned in the destruc- 
tion of Sodom and Gomorrah, chap. 4. 10, 11.: " I have 
sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt ; 
your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken 
away your horses ; — I have overthrown some of you, as God 
overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah — yet ye have not returned 
unto me, saith the Lord." 



92 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART II. 



45, " The Lord God hath sworn by Hmself, saith the 
Lord, the God of Hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob/' 
Amos G t 8. If nothing more is intended in the former of 
these passages, than that God destroyed Sor ? om and Gomor- 
rah, and in the latter, than that God declared he abhorred 
the excellency of Jacob, they seem not only uncommon, but 
even improper modes of speaking. In the one, Jehovah de- 
clares he had overthrown some of the Jewish cities, as God 
overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah ; and in the other, the 
Lord, the God of Hosts, tells the Prophet, that the Lord 
God had sworn by himself. Do not these expressions imply, 
either the existence of two Gods, or a plurality of persons in 
the Divine nature ? or are they mere idioms of the Hebrew 
language ? 

46. * Hosea lived about 785 years before our Saviour, 
In his prophecy he introduces Jehovah as saying, chap. 1. 
6, 7, " Call her name Lo-ruhamah : for I will no more 
have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly 
take them away. But I will have mercy upon the house of 
Judah, and will save them by Jehovah their God." Here 
one person, who is called Jehovah, promises to save the 
house of Judah by the hand of another person, whom he 
calls by the name of Jehovah their God. This is more 
evident still, if we compare it with Luke 2. 11. where the 
Angel tells the shepherds : " Unto you is born this day, 
in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." 
It is remarkable, that the Chaldee Paraphrast understood 
this scripture in the manner I have here represented it : — 
" I will save them by the Word of the Lord their God." 
This was a well-known title for the Messiah. — Novatian 
likewise applies the passage in the same manner : — " Why 
therefore," says he, " should t we hesitate to say that which 
the scripture hath not hesitated to express ? Why should 
true faith hesitate to believe, where the authority of scrip- 
ture is clear ? For behold the prophet Hosea, speaking in 
the person of the Father, / will not save them now by how, 
nor by horses, nor by horsemen, but I will save them by 
the Lord their God. If God says he will save them by 
God, and God doth not save them but by Christ ; why 
therefore should a man scruple to call Christ God, whom he 
conceives to be ranked as God by the Father in the scrip- 



SECT. 4. 



Prophetic Testimonies. 



93 



tures ? Nay, if God the Father doth not save but by God, 
no man can be saved by God the Father, unless he confess 
that Christ is God, in whom, and by whom, the Father hath 
promised that he will give salvation : as truly every one who 
acknowledges him to be God, will find salvation in Christ 
who is God. Whosoever will not acknowledge him as God, 
will lose salvation, which no where else can be found but in 
the God, Christ/' * 

47. Hosea 3. 5. " Afterward shall the children of Israel 
return and seek the Lord their God, and David their King, 
and shall fear the Lord, and his goodness in the latter days." 
David is a well-known name for the Messiah, in the 
writings of the Prophets. May not the expression his good- 
?iess here be put for the Messiah ? David was a type of the 
Messiah, who therefore is called by the name of David both 
here, and in several other places. In like manner John the 
Baptist is called Elias, because he was to resemble him, and 
succeed him in his office. 

48. ei When Israel was a child I loved him, and called 
my Son out of Egypt." Hos. 11. 1. J When we read the 
application of this passage to Jesus Christ by Matthew in 
the New Testament, we are somewhat surprised. But the 
text was applied in the same manner by the ancient Jews ; 
and Israel is called God's Son, and his First-born, in the 
fourth chapter of Exodus. In this respect, he was an emi- 
nent figure of the Messiah, in whom all God's promises are 
fulfilled. 

49. * " He took his brother by the heel in the womb, 
and by his strength he had power with God : yea, he had 
power over the Angel, and prevailed : he wept and made 
supplication unto him : he found him in Bethel, and there 
he spake with us : even the Lord God of Hosts, Jehovah 
is his memorial." Hosea 12. 3— 5.§ It is evident from 
this passage, that the Angel, with whom Jacob wrestled in 
the thirty-second chapter of Genesis, was the Angel of the 
covenant, who is here denominated God — the Lord God of 
Hosts — and Jehovah. But the clearest and fullest predic- 
tions of our blessed Lord, are to be found in the writings of 

* De Trinitate, cap. 12. See Lowth's Commentary on the place. 
X See Allix's Judgment, p. 58, and Lowth on the place. § Con.' 
suit Lowth on the place, where he applies it in the same manner. 



94 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH . 



PART II. 



the prophet Isaiah. He began to speak in the name of the 
Lord 760 years before the birth of Christ, and continued in 
the prophetic office nearly 60 years. We will consider a few 
passages of his book, which relate to the person and office of 
Jesus, in the order in which they are found in his writings. 

50. " Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nos- 
trils ; for wherein is he to be accounted of ?" Isa. 2. 22. 
A valuable author hath observed upon this passage, that it 
denotes the divinity of Messiah. For, says he, although 
commentatois take no notice of it, hath it not an eye to the 
divinity of Christ, warning us not to look upon him as a mere 
man ? For, as such, how could he possibly save us, or even 
himself ? Were he no more than other men, a mortal man 
only, i( whose breath is in his nostrils/' we might well say, 
" Wherein is he to be accounted of ?" That of the Psalm- 
ist would be as applicable to him, as to others ; (e None 
can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a 
ransom for him ; for it cost more to redeem their souls : 
therefore must he let that alone for ever f." But Christ 
hath redeemed his brethren ; therefore he is more than 
man, even God as well as man ; true God, and true man, 
in one person, never to be divided J. 

51. * " The Lord himself shall give you a sign ; Behold, 
a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his 
name Immanuel" Isa. 7-14. This mysterious portion of 
holy scripture, is abundantly cleared up with respect to the 
fact, though not with regard to the mode of that fact, in the 
history of our Saviour's birth : — " Behold, a virgin shall be 
with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call 
his name Immanuel, which, being interpreted, is, God ivith 
us" Mat. 1. 18 — 23. See the whole passage. To be 
called is the same in scripture-phrase as to be. When, 
therefore, it is said that our Saviour was to be called Imma- 
nuel, it means that he should really and truly be, what that 
name imported, namely, God with lis — God in human na- 
ture — God and Man in one mediator §. In the eighth verse 
of the eighth chapter the land of Judea is named the land of 
Immanuel seven centuries before he was born ; which 
seems to imply, in conformity with various other passages, 

t Ps. 49. 7, 8. t Wogan's Essay on the Proper Lessons, vol, 1,. 
p. 33 ? 34. § See Low th on the place. 



sect. 4. Prophetic Testimonies 95 

that he was at that time the real, though invisible, King of 
the Jews. John explains the whole : — He came unto his 
own nation, and his own people received him not. 

52. * " Sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself ; and let 
him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall 
be for a sanctuary ; but for a stone of stumbling and for a 
rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and 
for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many 
among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be 
snared, and be taken." Ch. 8. 13 — 15. This is applied to 
Christ by St. Peter : " The stone which the builders disal- 
lowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone 
of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which 
stumble at the word, being disobedient ; whereunto also 
they were appointed." 1 Peter 2. 7, 8. See also Rom. 9. 
33. where it is applied in the same manner. Hence it ap- 
pears that Christ, in his divine nature, is " the Lord of Hosts 
himself." * 

53. * This idea will be confirmed by that celebrated 
prophecy, chap. 9. 6. : — " Unto us a child is born, unto us a 
son is given ; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; 
and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, the 
mighty God, the everlasting Father, f the Prince of Peace." 
That the ancient Jews applied this remarkable passage of 
the Prophet to the Messiah, see Allix's Judgment, p. 44. — 
That part of the prophecy too, which is contained in the 
following verse, is applied by the angel Gabriel to Jesus 
Christ, before he was born. Compare Is. 9. 7- with Luke 1. 
31 and 32. The Christian Fathers also, uniformly applied 
this whole passage to Jesus Christ in the manner we usually 
do now. Justin Martyr quotes not the passage entire in- 
deed, in any one place, but he calls the Messiah, The 
mighty God, who is to be adored, and the Angel of the 
great council. See his Works, passim. — Irenaeus tells us, 
from the same Prophet, that, " his name should be called, 
Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God. — He is the 
mighty God, and hath an ineffable extraction." See book 
4. ch. 66. — Clemens Alexandrinus cites the text in the fol- 

* This passage is ascribed in the Targum to the Word of the Lord, 
t Irenaeus says, probably in allusion to this expression, that " the 
Word of God is the Father of mankind.'-' Lib. 4. cap. 51 



96 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART ir. 



lowing manner : — " Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty 
God, the everlasting Father?— Dionysius Alexandrinus 
quotes the text thus :— " He proclaims him the mighty God, 
the God who is a child." Epist. cont. Paul. Samos. p. 852, 
Labb. — St. Cyprian has it thus : — " Behold, to us a child 
is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be 
upon his shoulders ; and his name shall be called, Wonder- 
ful, Counsellor." Test, against the Jews, chap. 21. — Atha- 
nasius thus : — His name shall he called, The Angel of 
the great council, Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty 
God, the Governor, the Prince of Peace, the Father of 
the future age? De Incarn. cont. Arian. cap. 22. — The 
elder Cyril thus : — " His name shall he called, Tlie Angel 
of the great council of the Father, Wonderful, Counsel- 
lor, the mighty God? &c. This passage is extremely im- 
portant ; and they who deny the divinity of our Lord Jesus 
are greatly perplexed with it. They have various ways of 
reconciling it with the idea of his mere humanity; but one 
of the most common is, by denying the justness of our trans- 
lation. To put the matter, therefore, out of all dispute, 
and to give the unlearned reader every possible satisfaction, 
we will set down several translations, that they may have it 
in their power to judge for themselves. And we will not 
alter the words, though it will make them bald English, that 
every person may see what ground there is for saying that 
our common translation is wrong. 

The Hebrew then is thus : — " For a Man Child is born 
to us, a Son is given to us, and shall be the Rule upon his 
Shoulder, and shall be called his Name, Wonderful, Coun- 
sellor, God, Mighty, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace."— 
The Chaldee Paraphrase :— <f A Man Child is born to us, a 
Son is given to us, and he shall take the Law upon him, 
that he may keep it, and his Name shall be called from the 
face of the admirable Council, God, a Man enduring to Eter- 
nity, Christ, whose Peace shall be multiplied upon us in his 
days." Syriac : — " A Child is born to us, a Son is given to 
us, and his Empire is made upon his Shoulder, and his 
Name is called Admiration, and Counsellor, the most 
mighty God of Ages, the Prince of Peace, of whose Princi- 
pality to Plenty and Peace, there shall be no bound." — 
Arabic : — « A Man Child is born to us, a Son is given to -us, 



SECT. 4. 



Prophetic Testimonies. 



97 



whose Dominion is upon his Shoulders, and his name shall 
be called, the Angel of great Council, the admirable Coun- 
sellor, the strong God, the Emperor, the Lord of Peace, 
the Father of the Age to come. — Greek : — " A young Child 
is born to us, a Son is given to us, the Government of whom 
is upon his Shoulder, and his Name shall be called, The 
Angel of the great Council, wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty, 
the Governor, the Prince of Peace, the Father of the Age to 
come." 

The Greek copies differ very considerably upon this 
verse. " The Seventy, as Jerome remarks, in rendering 
Isa. 9. 6. have taken a very unusual freedom. For, thinking 
it strange and harsh to apply the name of God, and mighty, 
&c. to a person just before called a child, they chose rather 
to vary the sense, and to make a comment, instead of a 
translation, putting, Angel of the great council, instead of 
those other higher titles and epithets. But, most probably 
the fault lay not in the Seventy interpreters, but in the 
Jews, who after Christ's time, had corrupted some copies 
of the Seventy. Certain it is, that Irenseus, who was a pro- 
fessed admirer and follower of the version of the Seventy, 
looking upon it as an inspired performance, yet quotes not 
this text of Isaiah according to the Septuagint, as it now 
is, or as it was, in some copies, at least in the time of St. 
Jerome, Eusebius, and even Justin Martyr ; but according 
to what it should be, and, and as it lies in the Hebrew text ; 
citing it in proof of the divinity of Christ. In like manner 
Clemens of Alexandria, though equally an admirer of the 
Septuagint version, yet cites the same text of Isaiah, much 
after the same sense with Irenaeus, and not according to 
the Seventy; drawing an argument from thence of the 
greatness, majesty, and essential divinity of the Son of God. 
It is the less to be wondered at, if afterwards we but seldom 
meet with this text cited in proof of Christ's divinity, since 
the Septuagint, which the primitive Fathers chiefly fol- 
lowed and quoted from, exhibited another sense of the 
passage. Yet we find it cited by Athanasius, if the piece 
concerning the Incarnation be his, and the Elder Cyril, for 
that purpose : and there the verse is cited according to the 
Hebrew original ; only taking in part of the Seventy's 
translation : from whence one might suspect that there had 

H 



98 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART i„ 



been two versions of the same words, and both, by degrees^ 
taken into the text, and tacked together*." 

Another learned writer says, " The Arabic version, 
is formed on the Seventy, which in the Vatican copy is 
thus expressed : Unto us a child is born, unto us a son 
is given, his government shall he upon Ms shoulder ; 
and his name shall he called, The Angel of the great 
council— for I zvill bring peace upon his governors, and 
health to him. This is evidently a mutilated passage, as 
appears from the Vulgate and Arabic ; and from the more 
ample Greek version in the Alexandrian Manuscript f." 
• — See the Greek version above. — " Not even this ver- 
sion hath escaped entire : for I have no doubt, that the 
genuine reading was, Mighty God, and that the word God, 
was left out either by design, or because of the similar ending 
in urxvpos like the usual contraction in that manuscript ec. 
for the Vulgate has, Admirabi lis, consiliarius, Deus,fortis 9 
pater futuri seculi, prmceps pacts. I the rather suspect 
fraud and ill faith in omitting ©eo;, because, though so 
essential a word in the undoubted reading of the Hebrew 
text, it is omitted by A. 2. ©. whose versions are represented 
inMontfaucon's Hexapla, II. 103. The word ©to? is in the Aid. 
and Compl. LXX. andDeus, in theLatin oflrenaeus, IV. 6G. 

Eusebius, D. E. p. 336. gives the Greek version uncor- 
rupted, Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God. 

" The very learned Mr. Woide of the British Museum 
obligingly pointed out to me a passage of Clemens Alexan- 
drinus, Psedag. 1. 5. which confirms my suspicion of fraud in 
suppressing ©eo? in the Greek translations. The passage of 
St. Clement is worthy to be transcribed entire. Edit. Potteri, 
p. 112. What is therefore this infant boy, after whose 
image we are children? By the same prophet he declares 
his greatness : Wonderful, Counsellor, mighty God, ever- 
lasting Father, prince of peace*: of the increase of his 
government and peace there shall be no end. O great 
God ! O great God ! O perfect child ! the Son in the 
"Father, and the Father in the Son." 

The Latin, French, and other translations are all to the same 

* Waterland's Eight Sermons, p. 219. 
t Ap thorp's Discourses on Prophecy, vol. 1. p. 177 178 4 



sect. 4. Prophetic Testimonies. 99 

purpose, with very little variation. I will close this list of them 
with the late venerable bishop Lowth's : — " For unto us a 
Child is born; unto us a Son is given; and the government 
shall be upon his shoulder : and his name shall be called, 
Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the Father of the 
everlasting age, the Prince of peace." — How little is gained 
by rejecting our present translation, even the unskilful in 
language will hence be competent to judge *. — The chief 
objection to this passage is, the phrase Mighty God. This 
is supposed to be inconsistent with the character of Messiah. 
But when it is considered, that the prophet Isaiah was more 
fully enlightened into the character of Jesus, than ordinary ; 
that the New Testament has several expressions equally 
strong, and that the Jews always admitted it, till the Sep- 
tuagint translation was made 5 I do not see why, even a 
priori, we should hesitate in adopting the expression in all 
its extent f. 

54.* " And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem 
of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the 
Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom 
and understanding, the spirit of courage and might, the 
spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord : and shall 
make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, 
and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither 
reprove after the hearing of his ears." Isa. 11. 1 — 3 We 
Christians understand this whole chapter of the Messiah. 
The ancient Jews did the same, • as appears from their 
Targum on the first and sixth verses. It is remarkable 
also, that in the tenth verse Messiah is called the Root of 
Jesse, though not born till upwards of a thousand years 
after him. This root of Jesse, was to stand for an ensign of 
the people, and to it were the Gentiles to seek. This is 
applied by Paul to our Saviour, and he tells us the Gentiles 

• For these translations from the several languages of the East, see 
Leslie's Dialogues on the Socinian controversy. 

t The translation of Lowth has been animadverted upon by a Mr. 
Dodson in anew version of this Prophet; and lie has taken the liberty of 
altering the text of this important passage to get clear of the doctrine it 
contains. His disingenuous conduct herein lias been animadverted upon 
by Dr Sturges in a small pamphlet entitled, Short Remarks on a new 
translation of Isaiah, which the learned reader may do well to consult, 
The substance of his criticism upon this passage may be found in the 
Monthly Review for March 1792, page 30, 

H 2 



100 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART II. 



should trust in him. Rom. 15. 12. Compare Mat. 12. 21 . 
and Jer. 17. 5. In this last passage a curse is pronounced on 
" the man who trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm." 
Does not this imply something in the nature of Christ 
superior, at least, to mere humanity ? If we are to trust in 
him,, and if " cursed be the man that trusteth in man/' then 
Christ, in whom we are to trust, must be more than man. 

55. " In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown 
of glory, and for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of his 
people." Isa. 28. 5. The Targum renders this — In that^day 
the Messias of the Lord of hosts shall be crowned with 
joy. For Jehovah, in the original, it substitutes Messias* 
It is evident from this, and many other passages, that the 
ancient Jews found Christ in a variety of places of the Old 
Testament, where we should scarcely expect " to meet with 
liim *. He was then their glory and joy, and they were glad 
to discover the smallest traces of his footsteps. Why should 
we Christians be more shy of him ? I would not sacrifice 
my understanding to a mere imaginary interpretation ; but 
neither would I reject a meaning that gives dignity to 
the scriptures, if there is any probability of its having 
been in the mind of the Spirit. — At all events, such inter- 
pretations give us a very satisfactory view of the opinions of 
the ancient Jews concerning their Messiah, 

56. " Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zioo 
for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner- 
stone, a sure foundation : he that believeth shall not make 
haste." chap. 28. 16. This passage is applied to Christ 
several times in the New Testament, and was understood of 
the Messiah also by the ancient Jews, as appears from the 
Targum upon the place. To this Paul, probably, alludes 
when he says, " Other foundation can no man lay, than that 
is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 

57 * " Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the 
feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be 
strong, fear not : behold your God will come with ven- 
geance, even God with a recompence \ he will come, and 
save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and 
the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped." Isa. 35. 3 — 5« 
Our Saviour expressly applies this prophecy to himself, and 

* See Jamieson's Vindication, vol, l. p> 83. 



SECT. 4. 



Prophetic Te$timo?iies. 



101 



closes it with saying, (( Elessed is he, whosoever shall not 
be offended in me." Matt. 11.2 — 6. Christ therefore is 
the God that should come with a recompence to save his 
people. 

58.* " The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, 
Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, make straight in the desert 
a high-way for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, 
and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the 
crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain : 
and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh 
shall see it together ; for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken 
it." Isa. 40. 3 — 5. Compare Maik 1. 3. — In this passage, 
like that in Hosea, are evidently two Jehovahs made men- 
tion of. 

5.9.* " O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get 
thee up into the high mountains : O thou that tellest good 
tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength : lift it 
up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your 
God ! Behold the Lord God will come with a strong hand, 
and his arm shall rule for him : behold his reward is with 
him, and his work before him." Chap. 40. 9, 10. Com- 
pare this passage with Rev. 22. 12. Behold, I come 
quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man ac- 
cording as his work shall be." What is said of the Lord 
God in the former of these scriptures, is expressly declared 
of himself by our Saviour in the latter; it should seem, 
therefore, that Jesus Christ is the Lord God spoken of by 
the Prophet. 

60 * " He — the Lord God— shall feed his flock like a 
shepherd ; he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and 
carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are 
with young." Chap. 40. 11. The shepherd in this verse, 
who is called the Lord God in the context, seems to be no 
no other than the good shepherd, who gave his life for the 
sheep." — See the tenth chapter of John's gospel. 

61.* " Thus saith the Lord, the king of Israel, and his 
Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts; I am the first, and I am the 

Last ; and besides me there is no God. Chap. 44. 6. 

Compare Rev. 1.8. I am Alpha and Omega, the begin- 
ning and the Ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which 
was, and which is to come, the Almighty "^Kgomi — . 



102 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH, 



PART II. 



" I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last" Rev. 1. 
11. — Also Rev. 22. 13. "I am Alpha and Omega, the be- 
ginning and the end, the first and the last." From these 
comparisons it appears, that Jesus Christ is Isaiah's Lord, 
King of Israel, and Lord of Hosts, the First and the Last. 

62. "Thus saith the Lord, The labour of Egypt, and 
merchandise of Ethiopia, and of the Sabeans, men of sta- 
ture, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine, 
they shall come after thee, in chains they shall come over; 
and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make suppli- 
cation unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee, and there is 
none else, there is no God. Verily thou art a God that 
hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour." Ch. 45. 14, 
15. This passage is usually applied to Jesus Christ by the 
Fathers of the primitive church ; * though the first part of 
the passage, I think, is applicable to Cyrus only, or to the 
church. 

63. * "Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of 
the earth ; for I am God, and there is none else. I have 
sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righ- 
teousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee 
shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Ch. 45. 22, 23. — Com- 
pare Rom. 14. 9 — 12. To this end Christ both died, and 
rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead 
and living. — For we must all stand before the judgment- 
seat of Christ. For it is written, " As I live, saith the Lord, 
every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess 
unto God." Also in another place — " At the name of Jesus 
every knee shall bow." Phil. 2. 10. Every person will 
draw the conclusion for himself. See Lowth's Commentary 
on this passage, where it is applied in the same manner. 

64. * " Surely shall one say, In Jehovah have I righteous- 
ness and strength : even to him shall men come, and all 
that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In Jehovah 
shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory" 
Ch. 45. 24, 25. This declaration of the Prophet is well ex- 
plained by that of the Apostle : — « Of him are ye in Christ 
Jesus^ who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteous- 

* See Tert. adv. Prax. e. 13. Cyp. adv. Jud. I. 2. c. 6. Hippol, 
*£ont. Noet, sect, 4. Patres Syn. Ant, adv. Paul, Samos.^and others. 



SECT* 4. 



Prophetic Testimonies. 



103 



ness, and sanctification, and redemption ; that, according as 
it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the LORD." 
1 Cor. 1 . 30, 31. Is it not a fair conclusion from this com- 
parison, that Christ is the Jehovah spoken of by the Pro- 
phet ? Nor can this conclusion be honestly evaded. 

65. * " How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet 
of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, 
that bringeth good tidings x)f good, that publisheth salva- 
tion, that salth unto Zion, Thy God reigneth" Ch. 52. JT. 
This remarkable scripture is applied to Jesus Christ by Paul, 
Rom. 10. 15. It was applied also to the Messiah both by 
the ancient Jews,* and Chris tians.f It follows, therefore, 
of course, that Christ is the God who reigneth, in the lan- 
guage of the Prophet ; not, surely, independent of his Fa- 
ther, but with him, as a son with a father. All power, 
says he, is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 

66. * This Prophet's wonderful prediction of our Saviour's 
sufferings, and consequent glory, chap. 53. 13, &c &c. must 
not be passed over here without notice. And as there are 
some parts of it obscure in our version, I will refer the 
reader to bishop Lowth's new translation. That the Prophet 
speaks of Christ in this passage, no Christian can reasonably 
doubt, there being scarcely a verse in the whole that is not 
applied to him by the Holy Ghost in the New Testament. 
And though the latter Jews will not allow of this application, 
yet some of them not only do own, that their ancient Rab- 
bins did with one mouth confess that these words were 
spoken of Messiah the King ; but also speak thus of him : — ■ 
u The holy, blessed God began to covenant with the Mes- 
siah when he created him, and said to him, The sins of 
those who are laid up in secret with thee, will make thee to 
come under an iron yoke, and make thee like to this young 
heifer, whose eyes are dim, and fill thy spirit with anguish ; 
and because of their iniquities thy tongue shall cleave to 
the roof of thy mouth : Wilt thou then undergo this condi- 
tion for them ? The Messiah said, I undertake it with the 
joy and exultation of my heart, on this condition, That not 
one of Israel may perish, and that not only they may be 
saved who live in my days, but also they who are dead from 



* See Allix's Judgment, p. 33. t See do. p. 36. 



104 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART II. 



the days of the first man to this very day. And again, when 
God created the world, he held forth his hand under the 
throne of glcry, and created the soul of the Messiah, and his 
company, and said to him, Wilt thou head and redeem my 
sons after six thousand years ? He answered him, Yes. 
God said to him, If so, wilt thou bear chastisements to ex- 
piate their iniquities, according to what is written, Surely 
he bore our griefs ? He answered, I will endure them 
with joy." Whence three things are observable : — 1. The 
Jews were acquainted with the Father's covenant with Mes- 
siah concerning his sufferings for the sins of the people. — 2. 
They believed their Messiah was to suffer for their sakes, to 
make atonement for their sins. — 3. He was to be the salva- 
tion of all from the beginning to the end of time/* 

67. "Thy Maker is thine husband, the Lord of Hosts is 
his name." Ch. 54. 5. — Compare this with John 3. 29. 
" He that hath the bride is the bridegroom." If the Lord 
of Hosts is the husband ol the church : if Christ also is the 
bridegroom of the church : and if the church cannot have 
two heads : will it not follow that Christ is the Lord of 
Hosts ? 

68. " Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peo- 
ple, a leader and commander to the people." Isa. 55. 4. 
Part of this chapter is applied by Paul to Jesus Christ in 
tne 13th chapter of Acts ; and the ancient Jews understood 
the whole of the Messiah, f 

69. * ct Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed 
garments from Bozrah ? this that is glorious in his apparel, 
travelling in the greatness of his strength ? 

I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. 

Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy gar- 
ments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat ? 

I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people 
there was none with me : for I will tread them in mine 
anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall 
be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my 
raiment. For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the 

* See Whitby on Acts 8, verse 32. 
The Targum of Jonathan interprets this description of the sufferings of 
Christ, as we Christians do. Fee Prideaux's Connection, part 2j b. 8, p. 
581, 582. t See Allix's Judgment, page 55. 



SECT. 4. 



Prophetic Testimonies, 



105 



year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and there was 
none to help ; and I wondered there was none to uphold ; 
therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me, and my 
fury it upheld me. And I will tread down the people in 
mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will 
bring down their strength to the earth." Ch. 63, 1 — 6. 
This remarkable scripture is applied to our blessed Saviour 
by the best Commentators, and is expressive, not only of 
his pre-existence, but also of his more than human power. 
Language like this ill becomes a mere mortal man, especially 
a man of the meek and lowly character of the Messiah. It 
is the more likely that this passage is applicable only to the 
Messiah, because all the three persons of the Divine Nature 
are expressly mentioned in the following part of the chapter. 
Messiah is called " the angel of God's presence" and the 
people are said to have "rebelled and vexed his holy 
spirit/' which he had put within them. Messiah, there- 
fore, may well be supposed to be the person introduced in 
the above sublime dramatic representation.* 

70. " I am sought of them that asked not for me ; I am 
found of them that sought me not : I said, Behold me, be- 
hold me, unto a nation that w?s not called by my name. I 
have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious peo- 
ple." Ch. 65. 1, 2. f This passage is most commonly ap- 
plied by the Christian fathers to ur Saviour. If it is justly 
applied, it will prove him to be the God who spake the 
words. 

71. * Micah, the prophet, who lived upwards of 700 years 
before the birth of Christ, not only foretold the place of his 
birth, but spake also of his pre-existence, and eternal genera- 
tion : " But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little 
among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he 
come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel ; whose go- 
ings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" Ch. 
5. 2. This remarkable passage was always applied to Mes- 

* See Knight's Sermons on the Divinity orChrist, where this mean- 
ing is ably vindicated, page 172—186. Consult Lowth's Commentary 011 
the place, and his observations on the 9th verse, The Angel of his presence 
saved them; where he speaks of the appearances of Christ before his in- 
carnation. See too bishop Lowth's notes. This learned Prelate applies 
it in the same manner. 

t See Knight's Sermons on the Divinity of Christ, page 186—190, 



106 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART U. 



siah by the ancient Jews, as well as the Christian fathers, 
and it contains a full and satisfactory proof of his pre-exist- 
ence, and a probable proof, at least, of his eternal existence. 
I add too, that in ch. 2. 13, it is probably Messiah, who is 
called KING JEHOVAH. The Chaldee Paraphrase has 
this text thus : — "Whose name was said from eternity, from 
the days of the age." The Syriac : — " Whose going forth 
is from the beginning, from the eternal days/* The Arabic : 
— " Whose out-goings in Israel are from everlasting days." 
The Greek : — " And his goings forth from the beginning, 
from the days of eternity." The Jews couple this phrase, 
and that in Ps. *J2. 1/, — His name shall be continued as 
long as the sun — together, and say, — " His name was Son 
before the sun was made and understand both of the 
Messiah.* 

* See bishop Chandler's Defence of Christianity, p, 158, and Water- 
land's Eight Sermons, p. 239, 240, 

See Prideaux's Connection, part 2, b. 8, p. 582, and Lowfh upoa 
the place, 



SECT. 5. 



Prophetic Testimonies, 



107 



PART SECOND. 



SECTION V. 



INFORMATION CONCERNING THE MESSIAH, FROM JERE- 
MIAH, EZEKIEL, DANIEL, JOEL, HAGGAI, ZECHARIAH, 
AND MALACHI. 



Jeremiah prophecies of Jesus as — Jehovah, in whom his 
people are to trust — The Branch of Righteousness — 
The Lord our Righteousness. — Remarks and Autho- 
rities. — Jesus the Plant of Renown : — Ancient of 
days : — Invested ivith Universal Dominion : — Messiah 
the Prince : — Desire of all Nations : — King of Sion : 
Jehovah's Felloiv : — His Messenger : — Sun of Righ- 
teousness. 

Jeremiah began to prophesy 630 years before the birth 
of Christ, and continued in that office upwards of 40 years. 
The person and character of the Saviour are the objects of 
at least two of his predictions. But there is one place in 
his book, by which, when compared with others, we may, 
indirectly, be assured, that Messiah should be more than 
man. I will quote it at large. 

72.* " Thus saith the Lord ; Cursed be the man that 
trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose 
heart departeth from the Lord ; for he shall be like the 
heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh ; 
but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a 
isalt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trust- 
eth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is ; for he shall 
be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out 



108 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH* 



PART II. 



her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, 
but her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in the 
year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." 
Jeremiah 17- 5 — 8. The general tenor of scripture is, that 
we should trust in Christ. Here is a curse denounced upon 
every one who trusteth in man. Christ, therefore, is more 
than mere man, or the scripture issues contradictory injunc- 
tions. 

The two predictions concerning the person and charac- 
ter of Jesus, just mentioned, are very remarkable, and of 
considerable importance in the controversy on the dignity of 
Messiah. It will be needful to produce them both. 

73. * The first runs thus: — "Behold, the days come, 
saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous 
branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall exe- 
cute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah 
shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely : and this is his 
name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our righteous 
ness." Ch. 23. 5, 6*. 

74. The second thus :— " In those days, and at that time, 
will I cause the branch of righteousness to grow up unto 
David i and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in 
the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusa- 
lem shall dwell safely, and this is the name wherewith he 
shall be called, The Lord our righteousness" Ch. 33, 
15, 16. 

The former of these passages is decisive in favour of 
the divinity of Christ, if we admit of the present translation. 
But then we are told by a learned man, that the vulgar 
rendering is not accurate, and that it ought to be translated 
— This is the name by which Jehovah shall call him, Our 
Righteousness." Now, it appears to me, that there are 
some substantial reasons for supposing, that our translation 
is the only just one, and that no other can be supported 
without doing violence both to the text and context. The 
text is, 

j u,r?2f rnn> i*np> iwk n|i 

Our Bible-translation is, " And this is his name whereby he 
shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness." Dr. Blay- 
ney gives the above new translation, and then he adds the 
following note : — .<* I doubt not but some persons will be- ' 



SECT. 5. 



Prophetic Testimonies, 



109 



offended with me for depriving them by this translation of 
a favourite argument for proving the divinity of our Saviour 
from the Old Testament. But I cannot help it : I have 
done it with no ill design, but purely because I think, and 
am morally sure, that the text, as it stands, will not properly 
admit of any other construction. The Seventy have so 
translated before me, in an age when there could not possi- 
bly be any bias of prejudice either for or against the before- 
mentioned doctrine ; a doctrine which draws its decisive 
proof from the New Testament only. In the parallel pas- 
sage, ch. 33. 16, the expression is a little varied, but the 
sense according to a just and literal translation is precisely 
the same : — And this is he ivhom Jehovah shall call, Our 
righteousness" 

Our translation of this parallel text is nearly the same as 
that of the former. The original is— 

: upna mn> rfo *np> np 
The translation : — This is the name wherewith she shall be 
called, The Lord our Righteousness, This is the parallel 
place, and might properly be rendered — This is the name 
wherewith he shall be called, not she, The Lord our Righ- 
teousness. It is remarkable, however, that the Septuagint 
favours Dr. Blayney's new translation, and that the original 
Hebrew will admit either of the new or old. This being 
the case, and the Septuagint favouring the new one, is a 
very considerable circumstance in its favour. Their words 

are : — Kai tSto to ovo(acc avra, b xaAs0"« avrOv Kv%to$, Ico<tz$sk—-* 

" And this is the name of him, which the Lord shall call 
him, Righteousness" 

But I have an objection to placing an implicit confidence 
in this Greek translation, more especially on the Prophets, 
For in that famous passage, Unto us a child is born, &c. 
some of the copies of that version miserably maim and cur- 
tail the text, while the original, and several of the other 
translations preserve the place entire* It appears to me, 

* « The Septuagint version of Isaiah is not so old as that of the Pen- 
tateuch by a hundred years and more ; having been made in all probability 
after the time of Antiochns Epiphanes. And it unfortunately happens, 
that Isaiah has had the hard fate to meet with a Translator very unworthy 
of him, there being hardly any book of the Old Testament so ill rendered 
in that version as this of Isaiah, Add to this, that the version of Isaiah,. 



110 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART II. 



that not being able to conceive, how such high titles should 
belong to Messiah, the translator of that book has taken the 
liberty of abridging, of curtailing them, and has left only 
such as were agreeable to his own ideas of Messiah's charac- 
ter. But this, the reader will observe, is making scripture, 
and not translating it. A translator has no right to deviate 
from the original, nor to represent things otherwise than as 
they really are in the copy. All the other translations of this 
passage are favourable to ours. The Vulgate has it : — And 
this is the name which they shall call him, The Lord our 
Just One. The Syriac : — And this is his name by which 
they shall call him, The Lord our Righteousness. The 
Arabic — And that is the name by which they shall name 
him, The Lord Righteousness. The Chaldee Paraphrase 
differs somewhat from them all : — This is his name by which 
they shall call him, a Righteousness shall be to us from be- 
fore the Lord in his days." From the above considerations 
on the Septuagint, and a comparison of all these other trans- 
lations with the original Hebrew text, I conclude that our 
common rendering is the only true and legitimate one. 

Besides ; it is extremely probable, that the Jews should 
understand then* own phraseology as well or better than we 
can understand it for them at this distance of time. And 
we do not find that they translated this phrase, " The Lord 
our Righteousness," in any other way than as we do ; * only 
they explained it away, as they do all the other scriptures 
which affect their views of the Messiah, Nay, they are so 
far from varying from our vulgar translation of the passage 
in question, that they expressly say the name of the Messiah 
was to be " Jehovah our Righteousness." f This is so clear 

as well as other parts of the Greek version, is come down to us in a bad 
condition, incorrect, and with frequent omissions and interpolations."— 
Bishop Lowth's Prelim : Dissert, to Isaiah, p, 66, 

* See Allix's Judgment, p. 408, 
t Let the Reader by all means consult the excellent Bishop Pearson on 
the Creed, p. 148, 149, where this is proved with great ability. He says 
the Jews constantly attribute the name Jehovah to the Messiah from this 
one particular text : as in the Sepher Ikkarim, 1. 2. c. 8. 

Kpix » nwnn Dttf mron mpo, 

The Scripture calleth the name of the Messias, Jehovah our Righteous- 
ness. And in Midrasch Tillim on Ps. 21. 

mir a» mn> iraw inoi m n»»on 1?vb mipt wp*wt 



SECT. 5. 



Prophetic Testimonies, 



111 



and satisfactory, that even Socinus himself could not deny 
the propriety of the translation, though, like the Jews, he 
evaded the force of it, though in a different way. Our trans- 
lation is, moreover, greatly strengthened by having recourse 
to the context, which appears to me highly to favour our 
vulgar rendering. For it is the Lord Almighty, the Father 
of our Lord, who is speaking, and speaking only of the righ- 
teous Branch, describing him, and telling how he shall be 
called. " Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I 
will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall 
reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in 
the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall 
dwell safely : and this is his name whereby he shall be call- 
ed, — The Lord our Righteousness." It is the Lord himself 
who speaks, and not the Prophet, and tells us what the name 
of this king should be whom he was about to raise up for the 
salvation of his people. His name should be, and his na- 
ture should correspond with his name, Jehovah our Righ- 
teousness. 

It ought not to be forgotten too, that this view of the 
passage is more agreeable to all the parallel scriptures. 
" Surely shall one say, In Jehovah have I righteousness 
and strength : even to birr shall men come : and all that 
are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In Jehovah 
shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory*." 
Are these words applicable to any other but Jesus Christ ? 
If not, then Jesus Christ is the Jehovah in whom we have 
righteousness and strength. a He is the end of the law for 
righteousness to every one that believethf, — being made of 

mrv i»w np n>ro n>wm ^oni mrv 

nnnbn w>x 

God calleth the Messiah by his own name, and his name is Jehovah ; as 
it is said, Ex. 15. 3. The Lord is a man of war, Jehovah is his name. 
And it is written of the Messiah, Jer. 23. 6, And this is the name which 
they shall call him, Jehovah our righteousness. Thus Echa Rabati, Lam. 1. 6. 

bn rroD bv )nw no upis mrv imp> ioty np w 

i»ty mrv jok 

What is the name of the Messias ? R. Abba said, Jehovah is his name ; 
as it is said, Jer. 23. 6, And this is the name which they shall call him, 
Jehovah our righteousness. The same he reports of Rabbi Levi. 
— See the whole note for a defence of this interpretation against the 
Socmians, 

* Isa. 45. 24, 25. t Rom, 10. 4. 



112 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART II, 



God unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and re - 
demption : that according as it is written, He that glorieth 
let him glory in the Lord Comp. 2 Cor. 5. 21. — From 
all these considerations I conclude, that our vulgar tran- 
slation of this text is the only just one, and that it contains 
an unanswerable argument for the divinity of Jesus, at least 
so far as the application of the term Jehovah is a proof of 
that divinity. The candid reader will weigh the reasons here 
produced, and judge according to evidence. — Jer. 23. 5, 6. 
Relates to the Messias in the judgment of all the ancient 
Jews. Our Socinians will not allow this ; but rather than 
own that the Messias is named God, they refer the title of, 
The Lord our Righteousness, to the people there spoken 
; of." 

75. Ezekiel prophesied in Babylon while Jeremiah did 
the same in Judea ; and although he hath not said much of 
the person of Jesus, yet he is not altogether silent. — " I will 
set up one Shepherd over my flock, and he shall feed them, 
even my servant David : he shall feed them, and he shall 
be their Shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, 
and my servant David a Prince among them : I the Lord 
have spoken it. And — I will raise up for them a Plant of 
Renown." Ezek. 54. 23, 24, 29. We have the same ideas 
in the thirty-seventh chapter, where Messiah is called the 
Shepherd, the Prince, and the King of his people, together 
with God's Servant David §. 

76. Contemporary with Jeremiah and Ezekiel was the 
prophet Daniel. He seems to have been favoured with as 
large a share of the Spirit of inspiration as almost any that 
went before, or that came after him till John the Baptist 
arose. Indeed his predictions are so particular and distinct, 
that some have contended they were written since the events 

* 1 Cor. 1. 30, 31. 
t Allix's Judgment p. 418. Consult for the Jewish application of 
Jehovah our righteousness to Messiah, Martini Pugio Fidei, p. 517; and 
Jameson's Vindication, vol. 1. p. 81, 82. See also Louth's Commentary 
on the place, where he says, " Messiah shall be what his name imports. 
He shall be Jehovah, or the true God, and our righteousness, or the means 
of our justification. The title of Jehovah is elsewhere given to the Mes- 
siah by the Prophets : see Isa. 40. 10 ; 48.17; Hos.l. 7; Zech. 2. 10,11; 
Mai 3.1." 

% See Lowth's Commentary on Ez. 37. 22. 



SECT. 5. 



Prophetic lestimomes. 



112 



took place. His account of the stone cut out of a mountain 
without hands must imply something supernatural, either in 
the person of Christ, or in the mode of his advancement to 
universal empire. Dan. 2. 24, 25, 44, 45.* 

77. * " I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like 
the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to 
the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 
And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a king- 
dom, THAT ALL PEOPLE, NATIONS, AND LANGUAGES SHOULD 

serve him : his dominion is an everlasting dominion which 
shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not 
be destroyed." Chap. 7. 13, 14. This is a prediction of 
Messiah's kingdom, and that all people, nations, and 
languages should serve him. Does not this imply religious 
homage ? And is this homage consistent with the character 
of simple humanity ? Consult Louth's Commentary on this 
remarkable passage. 

78. " O Lord our God, hear the prayer of thy servant^ 
and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy 
sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake." Chap. 9. 17. 
For the sake of the Messiah hear the prayer of thy servant. 
The Socinians will say, this is an idiom of the Hebrew 
language. It may be so : but when the general sense of the 
holy scriptures is considered, I think it will bear ihe sense here 
put upon it. It is not of any great consequence, however 
in what manner it is understood. See Lowth's Commentary 
on the place, where he understands it in the same manner. 
w For the sake of the Messiah, known by the title of the 
Lord among the Jews,* see Ps. 110. 1. and called Messiah 
the Prince, verse 25th. of this chapter." 

The information which the archangel Gabriel gave to 
Daniel, more especially with respect to the atonement 
Messiah should make for sin, seems strongly to imply, that 
he should be more than man : for no mere man could make 
atonement for the sins of man. The Socinians are so sen- 
sible of this; that they universally reject, not only his 
divinity, but also the atonement for sin, which he made by 
the shedding of his bloody Let the reader peruse the 

* See Bishop Chandler's Defeuce of Christianity, p. 122. 



114 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART If. 



passage, however, and judge for himself whether it doth not 
contain the doctrine of atonement. 

79- " Seventy precise weeks are upon thy people, and 
upon thy holy city, to restrain the apostacy, and to put an 
end to sins,-, and to expiate iniquity, and to bring in the righ- 
teousness of ages, and to anoint the holy of holies. Yet 
know and understand, from the going forth of an edict to 
rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the prince, shall be seven 
weeks, and threescore and two weeks; it shall be rebuilt, 
the streets and their walls, in the narrow limit of the times i 
then after the threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be 
cutoff; and though none shall be for him; the people of the 
Prince that cometh shall destroy the city and the sanctuary ; 
so that they shall cut down as with an inundation, and even 
to the end of a decisive war shall be desolations. Yet one 
week shall make a firm covenant with many, and the midst 
of the week shall cause the sacrifice and the meat-offering 
to cease ; and when upon the border shall be the abomina- 
tion of desolation, that which is decided, until the full ac- 
complishment, shall be poured upon the desolate. *" 

80. About 550 years before the Son of God was born, 
lived the prophet Haggai, who clearly predicted the Saviour's 
advent. " Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Yet once, it is a 
little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and 
the sea,, and the dry land ; and I will shake all nations, and 
the Desire of all nations shall come : and I will fill this 
house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The silver is 
mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. The 
glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, 
saith the Lord of hosts : and in this place will I give peace, 
saith the Lord of hosts 

81. * Zechariah was contemporary with Haggai, and he 
describes the person of our Saviour under more figures than 
one. " Sing, and rejoice, O daughter of Sion : for lo, I 
come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. 
And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, 

* Dan. 9. 24— 27. This in Wintle's new translation, which may be 
compared with the common one It is not easy to render the passage 
into intelligible English. See Lowth's Commentary for a good explanation 
of this difficult passage. 

t Hag. 2. 6— 9. See Allix's Judgment p. 358. 



SECT. 5 * 



Prophetic Testimonies, 



115 



and shall be my people : and I will dwell in the midst of 
thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath 
sent me unto thee* " Jehovah speaks and declares that 
the Lord of hosts had sent him. These can be no other 
than the Father and the Son. 

82. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts—Behold, I will 
bring forth my servant, the Branch." Chap. 3 . 7 5 8. 
Here the Lord speaks, and declares that he will bring forth 
his Servant, the Messiah, whom he calls the Branch, The 
original word is sometimes translated the East, and in St. 
Luke the Day-Spring* 

83. "Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold 
the man whose name is the Branch, and he shall grow up 
out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord, 
and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his 
throne, and he shall be a priest upon his throne, and 
the counsel of peace shall be between them BOTHf." 
Messiah was to be both a King and a Priest^ and the 
counsel of peace w r as to be between the Father and his Son, 
the Messiah. 

84. "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zionj shout, O 
daughter of Jerusalem : behold, thy King cometh unto 
thee : he is just, and having salvation, lowly, and riding 
upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass." Chap. 

9. 9. Messiali is often spoken of in scripture as the King 
of Israel^ see Ps. 2.6; Jei\ 23. 5.; ibid. 30. 9. 3 Hosea 
3. 5.; John 1. 49.; and compare Mark 11. 10.; and Luke 
19. 38. 

85. " I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they 
shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord." Chap. 

10. 12. Is this an idiom of the Hebrew language, or is it 
expressive of two Jehovahs, the Father and the Son f 

86. * " And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me 
my price; and if not, forbear; so they weighed for my 
price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me 9 
Cast it unto the potter : a goodly price that I was prized at 

* Zech. 2. 10, 11. This was always referred to Messiah bv the ancient 
Jews, See Allix's Judgment, p. 37, and Pearson on the Creed. Art. 2 
pag« 149. 

t Zee. 6. 12, 13. Both Philo and Jonathan refer this passage to the 
Measias. See Allix's Judgment, p. 408, and Fteraing's ChristoWy, vol \ 
page e UQ„ 

1 2 



116 CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. PART II. 

of them ! And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast 
them to the potter in the house of the Lord." Chap. 11, 
12, 13. Messiah is here again evidently distinguished by 
the name Jehovah, Compare Matt, 27. 9, 10. 

87. "I will pour upon the house of David, and upon 
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of 
supplications, and they shall look upon me whom they have 
pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth 
for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one 
that is in bitterness for his first-born." Chap. 12. 10* It 
is the Lord that speaks in this passage, and declares him- 
self to be the person whom the Jews should pierce. Com- 
pare John 19. 37. See Lowth's Commentary on the place, 
who applies it in this manner, and refers to Grotius, 
Pearson, and Chandler, as of the same opinion. 

88. * " Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and 
against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of 
hosts ; smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scatter- 
ed." Chap. 13. 7* This expression— The man is my fel- 
low— is well explained by that of Paul, Phil. 2. 6. where 
the Apostle says — ivho being in the form of God, thought 
it not robbery to be equal with god* The original word 
is >n ; Dy contribulis, vel coequalis — my fellow, or my equal* 
The expression occurs no where, but in this verse, and in 
the book of Leviticus. In one text it is explained by 
brother, or partaker of the same nature. In the other place 5 
I believe, it will be found to signify, not barely a neighbour, 
but an equal ; one who stands upon the same level, with 
regard to the claims of equity, and the common rights of 
life. — In either sense it is strongly in favour of the divinity 
of our Lord Jesus Christ*. 

The original Hebrew word, says Dr. Eveleigh, will 
justify any inference concerning the equality of the persons 
compared, which may be drawn from the word Felloiv in 
our translation. — The expression means the same as Zecru 
2. 8 — II. where the Father and the Son are equally styled 
Lord of Hosts. 

89. * " And the Lord my God f shall come, and all the 
saints with thee." Zech. 14. 5. or with him. This is ex- 



* See Hervey's Tlieron and Aepasio, letter 8. 



bECT. 5. 



Prophetic Testimonies* 



117 



plained by a great number of passages in the New Testament, 
where Christ is represented as coming to judge the world, 
attended with his mighty angels. Christ therefore is the 
person who is here denominated, The Lord my God, 
Compare Matt. 16. 27; 25. 31 3 and Mark 8. 33. See 
Lowth on the place. 

90. * Malachi was the last of the Prophets. He lived 
nearly 100 years before Christ. One of his predictions of 
Messiah is very remarkable. " Behold, I will send my 
Messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me ; and 
the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, 
even the Messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in ; 
behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts." Chap. 
3. 1 * 

91. " Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of 
righteousness arise with healing in his wings." Mai. 4. 2. 
This was applied to Messiah by the ancient Jews f. Our 
Saviour announces himself as the Light of the world, John 
9. 5. agreeable to this prophetic character. 

* Mr. Whitaker in his Origin of Arianism, page 218, considers Messiah 
as the speaker in this passage. If the conjecture is just, Messiah is the 
Lord of hosts, t See Allix's Judgment, page 44. 



i3 



118 CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. PART II. 



PART SECOND 



SECTION VI. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE NAME JEHOVAH, AND THE INVI- 
SIBILITY OF THE DIVINE BEING. 

The Name JEHOVAH peculiar to the Supreme Being — 
Proved by various passages of the Sacred Writings, — 
The Name JEHOVAH frequently applied to Mes- 
siah. An irresistable evidence of his Deity. His 

Deity argued from the invisibility of the Eat her, — 
Opinion of the Ancients. — References. 

These are some of the most clear and striking pro- 
phecies, contained in the Old Testament, concerning the 
person of our blessed Saviour. There are many others, 
in different parts of that inestimable volume, which refer to 
various other circumstances concerning his person, his offices, 
and his kingdom, that are not necessary to be produced 
in the present inquiry. It will, however, throw consider- 
able light upon the subject, if we attend to the most re- 
markable supernatural appearances, recorded in the writings 
of Moses and the Prophets ; for, they seem to me, to con- 
vey very strong evidence, not only of our Lord's pre- 
existence, but also of his super-eminent dignity and glory. 
Some of these we will now therefore attend to. But, in 
order to do this with greater effect, it will be proper to make 
these two observations : first, that the name Jehovah is 
never applied to any merely created being : and, secondly, 
that no man hath seen God, the Father, at any time. 
These two assertions are both founded upon the plainest 
declarations of holy writ. 



sect. 6. Observations on the Name Jehovah. 119 

i. Thus, with 'respect to the former it is said, " I AM 
THAT I AM. Thus shalt thou say unto the children of 
Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." Exod. 3. 14.— 2. 
God commanded Moses to say unto the children of Israel,' 
" Jehovah, the God of your fathers, &c. hath sent me unto 
you : this is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto 
all generations." Exod. 3. 15. That this last clause relates 
to the name Jehovah, and not of his merely being the God 
of Abraham, &c. appears by comparing it with the former 
verse, and also with Hosea 12. 5. " Jehovah, the God of 
hosts, Jehovah is his memorial." — 3. (i Abraham called 
on the name of Jehovah, the everlasting God." Gen. 
21.33. Hence it should seem, that Jehovah, and ever- 
lasting God, are synonymous and convertible terms. — 4. 
% Thou hast avouched Jehovah this day to be thy God — 
and Jehovah hath avouched thee this day to be his pecu- 
liar people." Deut. 26. 17, 18.— 5. *« That thou mayest 
fear this glorious and fearful name, Jehovah thy God " 
Deut. 28. 58. — 6. "Jehovah is thy name forever; 
Jehovah is thy memorial from generation to ge- 
neration." Ps. 135. 13. — 7- "Jehovah is the true 
God, he is the living God, and an everlasting King." 
Jer. 10. 10. — 8. " I am Jehovah, that is my name, and 
my glory will I not give to another." Isa* 42. 8. — 9. " I am 
Jehovah, and there is none else, there is no God besides 
me." Isa. 45. 5. — 10. " Thou, whose name alone is Jeho- 
vah, art the most high over all the earth." Ps. 83. 18. — 1 1 . 
w Jehovah is a man of war : Jehovah is his name." 
Exod. 15. 3. 

Besides these passages, where the name Jehovah is ap- 
propriated to the Divine Being, there are many others, where 
the same term is used to assert his supreme power and 
authority, glorying and triumphing in it as his distinguish- 
ing character. The following may be sufficient:— -1. « I 
even I am Jehovah, and besides me there is no Saviour/' 
Isa. 43. 11,-2. "I form the light, and create darkness, I 
make peace and create evil: I Jehovah do all these 
things." Isa. 45. 7.-3. « Who hath declared this from 
ancient time ? Have not I Jehovah ? and there is no God 
else besides me." Isa. 45. 21 .—4. « Behold, I am Jehovah 
the God of all flesh: Is there any thing too hard for me >" 



120 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART 114 



Jer. 32. 27. — 5. " I am Jehovah ; I change not." Mai. 
3. 6. — 6. " All the gods of the nations are idols : but 
Jehovah made the heavens." Ps. 96. 5. — 7- " Against all 
the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment : I am Jeho- 
vah." Exod. 12. 12. 

From these several texts of holy writ, it is evident, that 
the name Jehovah is peculiar to the Supreme Being. It is 
equally evident, from various other passages, that it is fre- 
quently applied to the Messiah. Messiah therefore is pos- 
sessed of real and proper divinity. 

The last observation I proposed to make, was, that " no 
man hath seen God, the Father, at any time." The scrip- 
ture is as positive upon this as the former. Thus John : — 
1. " No man hath seen God at any time; the only begot- 
ten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared 
him." John 1. 18. — 2. Again our Saviour himself : — "Not 
that any man hath seen the Father, save he who is of God, 
he hath seen the Father." John 6. 46'. — 3. Paul calls the 
Father, " The King eternal, immortal, invisible.** 1 Tim. 
1. 17. — 4. And again, speaking of the same blessed Being, 
he says, " Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light 
which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, 
or can see." 1 Tim. 6. 16. — 5. Again : " The invisible 
God." Col. 1. 15. — 6. And lastly: "Him who is invisi- 
ble." Heb. 11. 27. 

From these six declarations, I deduce an argument, that 
Christ is more than man. For if no mere man hath ever 
seen the Father, or can see him ; and if Jesus Christ hath 
seen that glorious Being, which he declares he has . then it 
will follow, that Jesus Christ is more than mere man. — In 
conformity with these two observations, it was the general 
opinion of the Ancients, both Jews* and Christians, that 

* " R. Menachem— anil his authors teach constantly, that it was the 
Shekinah (ttie Logos) which appeared to Adam after his sin, and made 
him some clothes, fol. 59. col. 4. That it appeared to Abraham, fol, 35. 
col. 2. That it appeared to Jacob at night, fol. 36. col. 2. And to the 
same upon the ladder, fol. 41 and 42. That it appeared to Moses, Exod. 
3. fol. 55. col. 2. And to the people upon mount Sinai, fol. 56. col. 2. 
That it spake to Moses, and gave the Law to the people, fol. 57. col. 
2 and 3. fol. 58. col. 1. and fol. 84. col. 1 and 2. They say, that the 
Shekniah alone was intrusted with the care and conduct of Israel, fol. 28, 
xoh 3. and fol. 153, col. 2. Allix's Judgment, p. 165, 166. 



sect. 6. Observations on the Name Jehovah, 121 



all the appearances of God under the Old Testament dis- 
pensation, and even from the beginning of the world, were 
made by the Logos, the eternal Son of the eternal Father ; 
nay, that the world itself was created by this august Per- 
son. A tew of these manifestations of the Son of God to 
the world we will therefore proceed to particularize. 

" The Jews in the ages next to the Paraphrases assert, that God de- 
scended nine times, and that the tenth time he shall descend in the age to 
come, that is. in the time of the Messias. The first time was in the 
garden of Eden, The second at the confusion of tongues. The third at 
the destruction of Sodom, The fourth at his talking with Moses on mount 
Horeb. The fifth at his appearance on Sinai. The sixth and seventh 
where he spake to Moees in the hollow of a rock. The eighth and ninth 
in the tabernacle. The tenth will be, when he shall appear in the times 
of the Messias." Allix's Judgment, p, 282^283, 



122 



CHARACTER OV MESSIAH* 



PART II. 



PART SECOND. 



SECTION VII. 



OPINION OF BOTH ANCIENTS AND MODERNS, ON THE 
"DIVINE APPEARANCES UNDER THE OLD TESTAMENT 
DISPENSATION. 

Various manifestations of the Son of God. — Uniform 
sentiments of competent Judges : — Hammond — Water- 
land — Shuckford— Gregory Sharpe — Bull— Conyheare 
— Law and Milton. — Internal marks of divine mani- 
festations. — Application of Old Testament passages 
to Jesus by the Apostles. — Dr. Priestley's bold asser- 
tion. — Opinion of ancient Jewish Writers. — Observa- 
tions. — Passages of Scripture Paraphrased. — Opinion 
of Christian Writers in the first ages : — Justin Martyr 
Irenceus — Tertullian, fyc. Sec. 

92. When the Almighty came forth to create the world 
at the beginning of time, it was not in his own proper per- 
son, but in the person of his Son, the eternal LOGOS, as 
his vicegerent. * That it was the LOGOS who created the 
world, seems to have been the prevailing opinion of all the 
Ancients. The Heathen philosophers, Tertullian tells us, 
sometimes spake of a person under that appellation as the 
Maker of the universe. Zeno, Heraclitus, and Amelius, in 
particular, were of that opinion, f The learned Philo has 
given us his judgment in various parts of his works to this 
purpose, particularly in his pieces De Mundi Opif. and De 

* Consult the first chapter of Genesis. t See Bishop Home's 
Sermons, vol. 1. p. 194. 



sect. 7. Opinion on Divine Appearances. 123 

Monar. The Christian fathers every where took it for 
granted as a thing not to be called in question * ; and the 
writings of the New Testament are as full and explicit as 
human language can well make them. See John 1. 1 — 14. 

Col. 1. 16, 17. Heb. s l, 2, 10 — 12. Let the reader, 

who wishes to enjoy an elegant intellectual feast, turn to the 
seventh book of Milton's Paradise Lost, and he will find the 
Logos of God coming forth from his holy rest, where he had 
eternally dwelt in the bosom of his Father, to create the world, 
described with wonderful strength and majesty of language. 

93. When God appeared to our first parents in the 
garden of Eden, and conversed with them after their un- 
happy fall, it is presumed, this was not the Father of the 
universe, but the eternal Logos, who conducted all the divine 
dispensations from the beginning. What Moses calls the 
voice of the Lord God, Gen. 3. 8. Onkelos paraphrases, 
" They heard the voice of the Word of the Lord. — The 
Word of the Lord called unto Adam." 

That the Son of God, before he took upon him human 
nature, did conduct all the divine dispensations, has been, 
and now is, the opinion of some of the most able and 
learned men of every denomination. I know of none among 
us who reject the sentiment, except the Deists and Soci- 
nians. The Arians and Orthodox are agreed on the sub- 
ject. And as this opinion, if once fairly established, abso- 
lutely subverts the Socinian hypothesis, that Christ had no 
existence before he was born of the Virgin Mary, we will 
dwell a little on the subject, and notice such consi- 
derations as appear to us altogether conclusive. 

1 . It has been the uniform opinion of men the most 
competent to judge, though on other subjects they widely 
differed from each other. — 2. It appears from the internal 
niarks of various of those dispensations recorded in scripture. 
— 3. From the application of many passages of the Old 
Testament to the Son of God in the New by the Apostles, 
who wrote under the direction and influence of the Holy 
Spirit, which passages can be applied to no merely created 
being whatever. — 4. From the opinion of the most able and 
learned of the ancient Jewish writers, who usually applied 



* See the fifth, sixth, and seventh parts of this Apology for evidence 
at large on these several heads. 



124 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART II. 



the appearances of God, both before and during their own 
dispensation, to the Logos. — 5. From the uniform sense of 
the Christian church, even in its best and purest ages. — If 
we can establish these five propositions, it will be easily 
granted, that Christ, in his divine nature, conducted all the 
dispensations of God from tbe beginning. 

1 . It has been the uniform opinion of men the most 
competent to judge, though on other subjects they have dif- 
fered most widely from each other. 

This proposition, I presume, will be granted, though 
their concurrence in sentiment will be accounted for upon 
different principles. We will, however, produce the decla- 
rations of several of our learned men, that the reader may 
see at one view that I am not singular in the opinion now 
under consideration. 

1 . Dr. Hammond says, that it was the general opinion of 
the ancient Fathers of the church, that he, who appeared of 
old to the Patriarchs, was not the first, but the second 
person in the Trinity, and that these his appearances were 
preludes to his incarnation. On the New Testament, 
p. 820. 

2. Dr. Waterland says, that all the appearances of God 
under the Old Testament, were supposed by the Ancients 
to have been in and by God the Son. It was he that 
called himself God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all 
along headed and conducted the people of the Jews. This 
notion, so far, is just, and the fact true. Eight Sermons, 
p. 157. 

3. Shuckford tells us, that the God of Israel, the 
Divine Person, who is many times styled, in the Old 
Testament, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the 
God of Jacob, frequently appeared to them, and was in after 
ages made flesh, and for about three arid thirty years dwelt 
on earth among men. Connexion, vol. 3. p. 43. 

4. Dr. Gregory Sharpe informs us, that Messiah ap- 
peared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre, to Isaac in Gerar, 
to Jacob in Bethel, and was seen of Moses in the wilder- 
ness. He is the leader of the host of Israel, the Word of 
God by whom he made the world; by whom he conversed 
with the first and best of human kind ; whom he sent as a 
Saviour to redeem his people from their servitude and op- 



sect. 7. Opinion on Divine Appearances. 125 

pression in Egypt, their captivity in Babylon ; and, at last, 
in the flesh, to redeem the world from the pollution of sin, 
and dominion of death ; the messenger of God ; the mes- 
senger of the covenant ; the Son of God ; the angel of the 
Lord ; one distinguished as such from all others called the 
sons of God, who are ministring angels ; the desire of all 
nations; descended from Abraham, in whom all nations of 
the earth were to be blessed; the son of David, and in con- 
sequence of this descent, the son of man ; whose appearance 
or likeness, as a man, was, upon the throne, supported by 
the Cherubim ; and whose likeness came with the clouds of 
heaven to the Ancient of days. — It is, therefore, evident, 
that all the several appellations, given to our Lord and 
Saviour in the New Testament, are no other than had long 
before been given by the Prophets to him, whom the Jews 
expected as their deliverer and their king, about the time 
when Jesus was born. Second Argument in Defence of 
Christianity, p. 7l> &c. 

5. Bishop Bull assures us, that all the catholic Doctors 
of the three first centuries taught, that Jesus Christ, he who 
was afterwards so called, existed, before he became man, or 
before he was born according to the flesh, of the blessed 
Virgin, in another nature, far more excellent than the human 
nature; that he appeared to holy men, giving them an 
earnest, as it were, of his incarnation ; that he always pre- 
sided over and provided for the church, which in time to 
come he would redeem by his own blood ; and of conse- 
quence that from the beginning the whole order or thread 
of the divine dispensation ran through him ; farther yet, 
that he was with his Father before the foundation of the 
world, and that by him all things were made. — He is a 
stranger to the Fathers who knows not this. Defonsio Fid. 
Nic. sect, li cap. 1 . 

6. Bishop Conybeare says, the Jews were related to 
Christ in an especial manner, as the angel of the covenant 
— their redeemer from captivity — the giver of the law — their 
guide in the wilderness — the constant governor of their 
state — and, at last, when he assumed human nature, as 
their king, by descent from David. Sermons, vol. 1. p. 48, 

7. The late Dr. Law, bishop of Carlisle, a good judge 
in these matters, and one who was strongly disposed to 



126 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART If* 



lean to the opposite scheme, if evidence to the contrary had 
not he en extremely satisfactory, allows all that we are here 
contending for. " The Angel," says he, which God sent 
hefore the Israelites, to keep them in the way, was pro- 
bably Christ himself, who seems to have spoken unto Moses 
in mount Sina, Acts 7« 38. ; and whom the children of 
Israel are said to have tempted in the wilderness, 1 Cor. 
10. 9. (Comp. Whitby) to which also some refer Heb. 11. 
26. Vid. Doddridge in loco. Nor is it less probable, that 
the same divine person, who created the world, Col. 1. 16. 
had also the government and administration of it from the 
very beginning; appearing to our first parents, to the 
Patriarchs and their posterity, (Gen. 17-1.3 35. 9, II. 13. 
48. 15, 16.) sometimes in the name and character of Jeho- 
vah, Exod. 23. 21. (Isa. 6. 1, 5. comp. John 12. 41.) or 
in the presence of God, ib. 33. 14. or his Word, according 
to the Jerusalem Targum, passim. Sometimes as an 
Angel, Isa. 63. 9. Vid. Lowth ; the captain of his host, 
Josh. 5. 13, 14; the messenger of his covenant, Mai. 3. 1 ; 
though under the name of Michael, the archangel, he was 
more particularly distinguished as the tutelary Prince of 
Israel, Deut. 32. 8, 9. according to the Seventy, Dan. 10. 
21; 12.1. Ecclus. 17. 17. Rev. 12 7. Theory of Religion, 
page 87. 

8. Our great Epic poet hath delivered the same senti- 
ment : — 

Whom shall I send to judge them ? Whom but thee, 

Vicegerent Son ? To thee I have transferr'd 

All judgment, whether in heaven, or earth, or hell. 

Paradise Lost, book 10. 1. 55. 

The above instances may suffice as specimens of the 
opinions of learned men upon the subject in question. 
Much more to the same purpose might be produced. We 
will now, however, proceed to the next thing proposed, 
which was to observe, 

2. That theie are certain internal marks in the several 
manifestations of God, recorded in the Old Testament, 
whereby it appears, that those manifestations were made to 
mankind, not by the Father of the universe, in his own per- 
son, but by fcis eternal Son, « The Messenger of the 



sect. 7. Opinions on Divine Appearances. 127 

covenant." The truth of this proposition, will be sufficiently 
manifest, from a careful perusal of the several histories of 
God's Providence now under consideration, if we observe in 
such perusal, that the Being, who appears and speaks, is 
evidently more than an Angel, and that God the Father 
never is called an angel, and never hath been seen by man. 
If, therefore, the glorious Being, who appears in those seve- 
ral dispensations, is neither the Father of the universe, nor 
a mere Angel ; we have every reason to conclude it is the 
Logos of God. 

3. From the application of many passages of the Old 
Testament to the Son of God in the New by the Apostles, 
who wrote under the direction and influence of the Holy 
Spirit, which passages can be applied to no merely created 
being whatever, it appears Christ was the conductor of all 
the divine dispensations from the beginning of the world. 
For the proof of this important proposition, I need only refer 
the reader to the first chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. 
This single chapter is decisive. The Socinians are so sensi- 
ble of the force of the Apostle's application of the Old Tes- 
tament to the Son of God in the chapter before us, that, not 
being able to preserve their hypothesis, some of them ex- 
punge the chapter as spurious. Dr. Priestley, indeed, has 
not, I think, told the public that he considers it as an inter- 
polation, but then he proceeds in a way that conveys a much 
greater reflection upon all the Apostles, and the whole word 
of God recorded in the New Testament. For he tells us 
that " it is evident the Apostles often applied the scriptures 
very improperly " * and " he thinks he has shown that 
Paul often reasons inconclusively f 

The question then comes to this, whether the Apostles 
in general, and Paul in particular, have applied the scrip- 
tures properly, and reasoned conclusively, or whether Dr. 
Priestley has proved them erroneous, If Dr. Priestley is 
right and they are wrong, Socinianism has triumphed, and 
the New Testament is calculated only to mislead and de- 
ceive. If, on the contrary, the Apostles have applied the 
scriptures properly, and Paul has reasoned conclusively, then 
Jesus Christ existed before his incarnation, conducted the 

Theolog. Repos. vol. 4, p. 442. + Hist, of Cor. vol. 2, p, 370, 



128 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PAUT II, 



divine dispensations from the beginning, according to the 
opinion of most moderate and candid men, and the cause 
of Socinianism is lost. Dr. Priestley and Paul, and the 
writings of Br. Priestley and the writings of Paul, stand 
opposed to each other. Either Paul or Dr. Priestley must 
be wrong. Reader, judge for thyself, and take thy side ; for 
thou canst not concur with both, any more than thou canst 
serve God and mammon. 

4. From the opinions of the most able and learned of 
the ancient Jewish writers, who usually applied the appear- 
ances of God, both before and during their own dispensation 
to the Logos, it is manifest that the same Logos was the con- 
ductor of the divine economy trom the beginning. 

We have already observed, that Philo, the learned Jew, 
whose works are preserved, and who lived in the time of our 
Saviour, before his countrymen had conceived such prejudices 
against the gospel, and contrived means to alter their an- 
cient and approved method of interpreting the writings of 
Moses and the Prophets ; this same Philo, I say, ascribes 
the creation of the world to the Logos of God. And, in his 
book concerning Dreams, he expressly says, that it was the 
Logos who spake to Adam in the garden ; who called Moses 
out of the bush, saying, Moses ! Moses ! and who rained 
lire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah. He says, 
moreover, that the Angel, who presided over the Israelites in 
the wilderness, was the Word, the First-begotten of the Fa- 
ther, by whom he governs all things. He often affirms 
that there are three things in God ; and he calls the Reason, 
or Word of God, the Name of God, the Maker of the world ; 
not unbegotten, as is God the Father of all ; nor yet begot- 
ten in like manner as men are. The same is likewise called 
the Angel, or the Ambassador, who takes care of the uni- 
verse." * 

Moses, the son of Nachman, another ancient Jewish 
writer, is of the same opinion with Philo upon this subject. 
And, indeed, they do not seem to deliver these sentiments 
as any opinions peculiar to themselves, but rather as the 
common notions of their learned countrymen. The said 

* Grotius de Verit. lib. 5, sect. 21, where the Reader will find all the 
places in the works of Philo referred to. We shall produce them at large 
in another part of this work. 



sect. / • Opinions on Divine Appearances. 129 

Moses observes, that the " Angel, to speak the truth, is the 
Angel, the Redeemer, of whom it is written, Because my 
Name is in him. That angel, I say, who said to Jacob, 
I am the God of Bethel. He of whom it is said, And God, 
called 3Ioses out of the hush. And he is called an Angel, 
because he governs the world. For it is written, Jehovah 
brought us out of Egypt ; and in other places, he sent his 
Angel, and brought us out of Egypt. Besides, it is written, 
And the Angel of his presence hath made them safe ; 
namely, that Angel which is the presence of God, concern- 
ing whom it is said, My presence shall go before, and I 
will cause thee to rest. Lastly, this is the Angel of whom 
the Prophet said, And suddenly the Lord ivhom ye seek 
shall come into his temple, even the Angel of the covenant 
whom ye desire." 

And, again, the same writer speaks to this purpose : — 
" Consider diligently what those things mean ; My face 
shall go before thee : for Moses and the Israelites always 
wished for the first Angel ; but they could not rightly un- 
derstand who he was. For they had it not from others, nor 
could they arrive fully at it by prophetic knowledge. But 
the presence of God signifies God himself, as is confessed 
by all interpreters ; neither could any one understand those 
things by dreams, unless he were skilled in the mysteries of 
the law." N And, again : " My presence shall go before, 
that is, the Angel of the covenant whom ye desire, in whom 
my presence will be seen. Of whom it is said, I will hear 
thee in an acceptable time ; for my Name is in him, and 
I will make thee to rest j or I will cause him to be kind 
and merciful to thee. Nor shall he guide thee by a rigid 
law, but kindly and gently." * 

Such are the sentiments of these ancient and learned 
Jewish writers ! 

The Chaldee Paraphrases, which are nearly as ancient 
as any Jewish books we now have, (the writings of Moses 
and the Prophets excepted,) abound with applications, of 
the appearances of the Almighty, to the Word of God, his 
eternal Son. In the Chaldee he is called the Memra of 

* Vide Poli Syn, in Josh. 5. 14 ; and Jamison's Vindication, vol 1 
page 70. 

K 



130 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART 11. 



God,' which answers to the Lo gos * of God in Greek, and 
the Word of God in English. To this Memra these Para- 
phrases ascribe the creation and government of the world, 
and particularly the government of the Jewish church and 
nation. Now, the question is, what is meant by this Memra, 
in the sense of the Paraphrasts ? On this subject there is 
a controversy. Much does not, indeed, depend upon it, 
which way soever the meaning is determined, but yet it is of 
some importance. The Socinians take one side of the ques- 
tion, the Arians and Orthodox the other. The Socinians 
say, it is a mere idiom of the Chaldee language, and signifies 
no more than himself. The Arians and Orthodox, on the 
contrary, insist upon it, that when the Paraphrasts say, The 
Memra of God did or spoke such and such a thing, we are 
to understand their meaning to be, that the Logos or Son 
of God, before his incarnation, did or said such and such 
things. f Now, I confess, there is much to be advanced on 
each side of this curious question ; and as the point does not 
appear to me so clear as to carry full conviction, to an 
honest mind, either way, I should be sorry to rest so im- 
portant a point of doctrine absolutely upon so precarious a 
foundation. Mr. Lindsey in his Apology, p. 88, docs not 
do full justice to the learned Prideaux and Capellus. He 
says they have set aside those, fancies of the Orthodox, who 
explain the phrase Memra of God, concerning the Son of 

* The late Mi\ Robinson, of Cambridge, has observed, that "no word 
has occasioned greater controversies than this. The truth seems to be— 
that Christ appeared to the patriarchs before his incarnation — that the 
Jews called the person appearing Memra Jehov^e, the Word of the 
that the Targumists used this term to describe the Messiah— that 
John writing in Greek, translated Memra into Logos, by which the hel- 
tenistie Jews understood the Messiah." Claude's Essay, vol. 1, p. 306. 

t Jonathan on Deut. 32. 43. speaks of the atonement as being made 
by this Memra ; " God will atone by his Word for his land, and for his 
people, even a people saved by the Word of the Lord." 

There are two or three places in the 26th chap, of Levit. which fully 
determine the Memra to be a person distinct from God the Father. In 
the 9th verse it is said, I will have respect unto tjou. This is rendered by 
Onkelos ; " I will look upon you in my Word." At the llth verse it is, 
My soul shall not abhor you. This he renders, u My Word shall not abhor 
you. At the 12th verse the Lord saith, I icill ivalk among you, and will 
be your God. and ye shall be my people. To this Jonathan gives .this 
gloss ; " I will be your God, and my Word shall be unto yon God the 
Redeemer." 



sect. 7- Opinions on Divine Appearances, 131 

God. It appears, however, to me, that neither of these Gen- 
tlemen do absolutely reject the interpretation of the Ortho- 
dox, but only think the foundation too insecure on which to 
rest a cause of so much importance. They both saw the 
force of the arguments from the commonly-received inter- 
pretation of the expression, but then they saw the objections, 
that may be brought against it, in so strong a light, that 
though they both cordially embraced the orthodox scheme, 
yet they durst not risk the cause upon the justness of this 
interpretation. In so doing they acted the part of wise and 
moderate men. I am sorry to say Mr. Lindsey does not act 
the same moderate and candid part, in the inference he 
draws from Prideaux's words in the 89th page of his Apolo- 
gy. Mr. Lindsey's presumption, I apprehend, never entered 
the head of this learned man. He knew too well that the 
meaning of the term Logos, in the beginning of John's gos- 
pel, had no necessary dependance upon the word Memra in 
the Chaldee paraphrasts.* When will men of learning study 
the interests of truth, more than those of an hypothesis ? 

But it does not follow from the concessions of Prideaux 
and Capellus, that the cause of the Orthodox is desperate in 
this question. Bishop Kidder and Dr. Allix are not to be 
answered by a mere literary squib at the bottom of a page. 
The Demonstration of the Messias, of the former, and the 
Judgment of the Ancient Jewish Church against the Unita- 

* The term Word made use of in the beginning of this gospel seems to 
t>ccur upon several occasions in the Old Testament for the personal Word 
of God ; so that there is no need to consider it as altogether taken from 
the Chaldee paraphrasts. David says, 2 Sam. 7. 21, For thy Word's sake, 
and according to thine own heart, hast thou clone all these things. Compare 
this with its parallel place, 1 Chron. 17. 19. O Lord, for thy servant's 
sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness. 
Here the Word of God in the former place is called the Servant of God in 
the latter. And we know that the term Servant is commonly applied to 
the Messiah in scripture. So Isa. 42. 1, Behold my servant whom I 
uplwld. 

There is an expression of a similar kind in 1 Sam. 3. 21, The Lord ap- 
peared again in Shiloh ; for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shi I oh 
by the Word of the Lord, 

So Gen. 15. 1. After these things the Word of the Lord came unto 
Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram ; I am thy shield. 

See also Ps. 18. 30 ; Gen. 15. 3,4,5; Hag. 2. 4, 5 ; Prov. 8 ; Wisdom 
7. 22 ; Heb. 4. 12, 13 ; Mat. 11. 19 ; Luke 11. 49, Consult also Jamjeson's 
Vindication upon all these passages, book 1, chap. 

K 2 



132 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART If. 



rians, of the latter, are truly learned and valuable works . 
Possibly, they may have carried the matter too far on the 
subject of the Memra. of God. The expression may, some- 
times, be an idiom of the Chaldee language. Nay, even in 
several of those places which they have produced in their 
learned works it may be such an idiom. Yet it does not fol- 
low from this concession^ that it is a mere idiom. It may 
be used in several and different senses. And this, I believe, 
is the truth of the case. For it appears, most incontestably, 
from the works of Philo, and other Jewish writers, that they 
did frequently, though not always,, apply the term Logos to 
the expected Messiah, and considered him as the second of 
the three divine Principals, and the creator and preserver of 
the world. It is exactly the same with the New Testament 
writers* They use the term Logos not less than 300 times ; 
but then not always in the same sense. Sometimes, it evi- 
dently, from the context, signifies, the Word^ or Sort of God ; 
sometimes a wordy sometimes a saying ; sometimes rea~ 
son ; sometimes a iking ; and sometimes a work. * 

If, therefore, Philo, and other Jewish authors, as- well a& 
the New Testament writers, who have indisputably used the 
term Logos in this sense, were prior to, or contemporary 
with, the authors of these Chaldee paraphrases, it is natural 
to suppose, that the same expression, though in a different 
language^ should sometimes occur. This is in fact the case. 
For though the Memra of God may sometimes, or even very 
frequently, be a mere idiom of the language, yet it is not 
always such. Sometimes, at least, it is used in such a con^ 
nection, that it cannot be understood in any other sense, 
but as the Logos, and eternal Son of the most high God. 

I submit it to the consideration of the reader, if he will 
be at the trouble to weigh in the balance of an impartial 
judgment the following passages, whether they are not all, 
or most of them, of this description. Gen. 3. 8. " And 
they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden." 
Paraphrase : — And they heard the voice of the Word of the 
Lord God walking in the garden.— Gen. 3. 10. "And he 

* Let the Reader consult Kidder and Allix for himself on the subject 
of the Memra of God ; and for a very late application of it to the Messiah^ 
Jamieson's Vindication against Dr. Priestley, book 1, chap. 5. 



sect. 7» Opinions on Divine Appear rnces. 133 

said, I heard thy voice in the garden." Para : — I heard the 
voice of thy Word in the garden. — Gen. 6. 6. "And it re- 
pented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it 
grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy 
man." Para : — And it repented the Lord with his TV 3rd 
that he had made man on the earth ; and he spake with his 
Word, that he would, &c— Gen. 7- 16, " And the Lord 
shut him in." Para :— And the Lord by his Word covered 
him over. — Gen. 8. 21. " And the Lord said in his heart, I 
will not again curse the ground." Para : — And God said by 
his Word, I will not again curse the ground. — Gen. 9. 15. 
" And I will remember my covenant which is between me 
and you," Para .:— And I will remember my covenant which 
is between my Word and you. — Gen. 9. lfi. "And the bow 
shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it, that I may re- 
member the everlasting covenant between God and every 
living creature." Para : — Everlasting covenant which is be- 
tween the Word of God and between every living soul — 
Gen. 9. 17. " And God said — This is the token of the cove- 
nant — between me and all flesh." Para : — This is the sign 
of the covenant between my Word and all flesh. — Gen. 15. 
1. " I am thy shield." Para: — My Word is thy shield, — 
Gen. 15. 6. " And -he believed in the Lord." Para: — And 
he believed in the Word of the Lord. — Gen. 21.° 23. " Swear 
unto me here by God." Para : — Swear unto me here by the 
Word of the Lord.— 1 Kings 8. 57- "The Lord our God be 
with us." Para : — The Word of the Lord God be with us. 
— 2 Kings 18. 5. "He trusted in the Lord God of Israel." 
Para : — In the Word of the Lord God of Israel he trusted.— 
2 Kings 18. And the Lord was with him. Para: — And 
the Word of the Lord was for his help. — -2 Kings 20. 6. " I 
will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant 
David's sake." Para: — I will defend this city for my Word's 
sake, and for my servant David's sake. — Is. 9. 7- " The 
zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." Para : — By 
the Word of the Lord of hosts this shall be. — Is. 10. 20. 
"They shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy one of Israel, in 
truth." Para : — They shall trust upon the Word of the 
Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. — Is. 45. 17. " Is- 
rael shall be saved by the Lord." Para : — Israel shall be 
saved by the Word oi the Lord. — Jer. i. 19, "lam with 



134 



CHARAtER OF MESSIAH. 



PART II. 



thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee." Para : — My Wordis 
for thy help, saith the Lord, to deliver thee. — Jer. 27. 5. " I 
have made the earth." Para : — I hy my Word have made 
the earth. — Ps. 110. 1. " The Lord said unto my Lord." 
Para : — The Lord spake with his Word, 

These several instances are taken from the Targums of On- 
kelos, and those which follow it in Walton's Polyglot. But 
if we turn to the fourth volume, and examine the Jerusalem 
Targum upon Gen 18. 2. we shall find the Memra,ox Word 
of God, appeared unto Abraham as an Angel of the Lord, 
along with other two, and spake and acted as the judge of the 
whole earth. This could be no other than the Son of God, 
" the Angel of the covenant.*" 

If to these considerations we add the various declarations 
of the learned Philo concerning the Logos of God, such as 
that he is " the first-begotten Son and Word of God," and 
the like, of which his writings are full, as will be seen in 
different parts of this Plea, no doubt can remain upon 
the mind, but that the word Memra, so frequently used by 
the Paraphrasts, sometimes, at least, signifies the Messiah.j 

5. Finally ; that this view of the Logos of God is the 
only just one, in opposition to the Socinians, is still more 
probable, from the uniform sense of the writers of the Chris- 
tian church, who lived in its first and purest ages, some of 
whom were contemporary with the Chaldee Paraphrasts. In- 
deed, the opinions of these writers are so full and clear, re- 
specting the Logos of God, and their opportunities for 
coming to the knowledge of the truth in these matters so 
ample, that they appear to me to reduce the question, now 
under consideration, to an absolute certainty. I will produce 
their testimony, and then leave the decision to the judgment 
of every candid man. 

1. Justin Martyr bath delivered his sentiments very freely 
upon the divine appearances. " Our Christ," he says, "con- 
versed with Moses out of the bush, in the appearance of 
fi re , — And Moses received great strength from Christ, who 

* See too the Jerusalem Targum on Gen. 49. 18. Consult also, Fleming's 
Christology on these two passages, vol. i. p. 139—142, or turnback to the 
70th page of this Plea, where these paraphrases are inserted. 

X I could wish the reader to turn to Scott's Christian's Life, vol. 5. p. 
135—160, where he will find considerable evidence to this purpose, 



sect. 7. Opinions on Divine Appearances. 135 

spake to him in the appearance of fire." Again : — "The 
Jews are justly reproved, for imagining that the Father of all 
things spake to Moses, when indeed it was the Son of God, 
who is called the Angel and the Messenger of the Father. 
He formerly appeared in the form of fire, and without a hu- 
man shape to Moses and the other prophets : hut now — being 
made a man of the Virgin/'* &c. 

2. Irengeus says ; The scripture is full of the Son of God's 
appearing, sometimes to talk and eat with Abraham ; at 
other times to instruct Noah about the measures of the ark ; 
at another time to seek Adam ; at another time to bring 
down judgment upon Sodom ; then again to direct Jacob in 
the way, andagain to converse with Moses out of the bush/'! 

3. Tertullian is still more explicit : "It was the Son who 
judged men from the beginning, destroying that lofty tower, 
and confounding their languages \ punishing the whole 
world with a flood of waters ; and raining fire and brimstone 
upon Sodom and Gomorrah, the Lord pouring it down from 
the Lord :— for he always descended to hold converse with 
men, from Adam even to the Patriarchs and Prophe s, in 
visions, in dreams, in mirrors, in dark sentences, always pre- 
paring his way from the beginning : f — Neither was it pos- 
sible, that the God who conversed with men upon earth, 
could be any other than that Word, which was to be made 
flesh." 

4. Clemens Alexandrinus says, "the Psedagogus appear- 
ed to Abraham, to Jacob, wrestled with him, and lastly mani- 
fested himself to Moses." — Again : " Christ gave the 
world the law of nature, and the written law of Moses. 
Wherefore, the Lord deriving from one fountain both the 
first and second precepts which he gave, neither overlooked 
those who were*before the law, so as to leave them without 
law ; nor suffered those who minded not the philosophy of 
the Barbarians to do as they pleased. He gave to the one 
precepts, to the other philosophy, and concluded them in un- 
belief till his coming, when, whosoever believes not, is with- 
out excuse." j| 

5. Origensays, "My Lord Jesus Chsist descended to 
the earth more than once. He came down to Esaias, to 

* Apol. 1. p. 95.—? Lib. 4. cap. 23.— t Adv. Prax, cap, 16,-'-|j Strom. 7, 
§ Huet, Origen. lib. 2, quaest, 3. 



136 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART IT. 



Moses, and to every one of the Prophets/'* — Again : 
" That our blessed Saviour did sometimes become as an 
angel, we may be induced to believe, if we consider the ap- 
pearances and speeches of angels, who in some texts, have 
said, / am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, 
8fc* 

6. Theophilus of Antiochalso assures us, that it was the 
Son of God who appeared to Adam immediately after the 
fall ; who, assuming the person of the Father and Lord of 
all, came into paradise under the person of God, and conver- 
sed with Adam. J 

7. The synod of Antioch : — " The Son," say they, "is 
sometimes called an angel, sometimes the Lord, sometimes 
God. For it is impious to imagine, that the God of the uni- 
verse is any where called an Angel. But the Messenger of 
the Father is the Son, who himself is Lord and God : for it 
is written, The Angel of the great council." f 

8. Cyprian observes, that the Angel who appeared to the 
Patriarchs is Christ and God. And this he confirms by pro- 
ducing a number of those passages from the Old Testa- 
ment, where it is said that an angel of the Lord appeared 
and spake in the name of God.|| 

9. Hilary speaks to the same purpose : — u He who is 
called the Angel of God, the same is Lord and God. For 
the Son of God, according to the Prophet, is the Angel of 
the great counciL That the distinction of persons might be 
entire, he is called the Angel of God ; for he who is God of 
God, the same also is the Angel (or Messenger) of God : 
and yet, at the same time, that due honour might be paid 
he is also called Lord and God."§ 

10. St. Basil says, " Who then is it, that is called both 
an Angel and God ? Is it not he, whose name we are told 
is called the angel of the great covenant ? For though it 
was in after times, that he became the Angel of the great 
covenant, yet even before that, he did not disdain the title of 
an Angel, or Messenger."§§ Again : " It is manifest to 
every one, that where the same person is styled both an An- 
ge 1 and God, it must be meant of the Only-hegotton, who 

* Orig. in Joan.— % Ad Autai. lib. 2. p. 100.— t Epist. Syn. ad Paul. 
Pamos.--- J Test Adv. Jud. lib. 2, sect 5 and 6.— § De Trinit. lib. 4.— 
§§ Cont. Eunom. lib. 2, 



sect. 7« Opinions of Divine Appearances, 137 

manifests himself to mankind in different generations, and 
declares the will of the Father to his saints. Wherefore he 
who, at his appearing to Moses, called himself I AM, cannot 
be conceived to he any other person, than God the Word^ 
who ivas in the beginning with God.* 

1 1. St. Athanasius also : — " Who were they before whom 
Abraham fell to the earth ? Were they men ? One of them was 
God, with whom he discoursed. The other two were angels. 
The scripture itself doth most clearly teach, that one of the 
two angels was the Son of God." This is part of a dialogue 
between Athanasius and Macedonius. And Macedonius 
himself confesses, that he who was seen by Abraham was 
the Son of God 4 

12. St. Cyril of Jerusalem, speaking of the passage in the 
sixth chapter of Isaiah, where it is declared that he saw God 
sitting upon the throne of his glory, saith, The Father hath 
no man seen at any time ; but he who then appeared to the 
prophet was the Son.f 

13. Theodoret, speaking of the third chapter of Exodus, 
says, The reading of this place declares who it was that was 
seen by Moses. The text saith, The angel of the Lord ap- 
peared to Moses, and said, I am the God of Abraham, Sfc. 
And again, I AM THAT I AM. This whole context 
proves him that appeared to be God ; but which person 
might it be ? Not the Father, not the Holy Spirit, 
who are never called angels : wherefore it remains, that he 
was the Son of God, who is the angel of the great council. || 

This evidence is ample, in proof of the matter of fact, 
that the great body of the ancients, as well Jews, as Hea- 
thens and Christians, considered the Logos of God, the An- 
gel of the covenant, as the conducter of all the dispensations 
of Divine Providence in the government of the world,§ 

* Ibid.— t Athan. dial. 3. de Trin.— t Cat. 14.— || In Exod, 3. 2. — 
| See the ientimentsof the Fathers more at large in the 7th part of this work. 



138 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART It. 



PART SECOND. 

— ■♦■ — 

SECTION VIII. 



A SHORT VIEW OF THE DIVINE APPEARANCES RECORDED 
IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 



Pre-existence of the Son of God. — Proved by the manifes- 
tations recorded in the Old Testament. — Jesus appear- 
ed at the confusion of tongues to Abraham — toHagar — 
to Abimelech — to Jacob at Mahanaim — to Moses in 
the bush — to the Israelites — to Balaam — Joshua — Gi- 
deon — Manoah — Isaiah — Daniel — Zechariah — and 
Habakkuk. Eusebius quoted. 

We have said under the second proposition, that there 
are certain internal marks in the several manifestations of 
God, recorded in the Old Testament, whereby it appears that 
those manifestations were made to mankind, not by the Fa- 
ther of the universe, in his own person, but by the Logos, 
his eternal Son, in aftertimes, the Messenger, of the new co- 
venant. We will now return to the consideration of that 
proposition, and take a concise view of those appearances, 
and see if there be not certain traits in each, whereby it is 
made manifest in fact, that the Son of God existed before 
his incarnation. 

94. The confusion of tongues, at the building of the tow- 
er of Babel, was effected by the Logos of God, in the opi- 
nion of the ancients, both Jews and Christians ; and it is pre- 
sumed from certain internal marks in the narrative, that this 
opinion was just. See Gen. 11. 1 — 9, where the person 
who appeared is constantly denominated Jehovah. Bishop 
Patrick judges, in conformity with this, that where God says, 
u Let us go down," he spake to his Son. 



sect. 8. View of Divine Appearances. 139 

95. <c After these things the Word of the Lord came 
unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram; I am thy 
shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said 
Lord God, what wilt thou give me, &c. ? Behold, the Word 
of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be 
thine heir, &c. And he ( the Word of the Lord) brought 
him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and 
tell the stars, if thou be able to number them : and he said 
unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the 
Lord, &c. And he said unto him, I am the LORD, that 
brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this 
land to inherit it. And he said, Lord God, whereby shall 
I know that I shall inherit it ? — In the same day the Lord 
made a covenant with Abram/' Gen. 15. 1 — 18. The 
Word of the Lord in this place, who is addressed under 
such magnificent titles, is supposed by very good judges, to 
be the Logos of God, the Conductor of all the divine dis- 
pensations, and the Mediator between God and man, before 
he became incarnate for our salvation. He that created the 
world at first by his power, the same governed it by his 
wisdom, redeemed it by his blood, and will judge it in the 
end by the strictest rules of mercy and equity. In the 
1 Kings 18. 24. this same Memra, or Logos of God, is 
spoken of as one sent. "I will call on the name of theLord," 
is paraphrased by Jonathan ; " I will pray in the name of 
the Lord, and he shall send his Word." — Deut. 4. 7. is 
paraphrased ; " God will receive the prayer of Israel by his 
Word, and have mercy upon them, and will make them 
by his Word like a beautiful fig-tree." — Jer. 29. 14. is 
rendered; "I will be sought by you in my Word, and I 
will be enquired of through you by my Word *. m 

96. * The Angel of the Lord that appeared to Hagar 
in the wilderness, seems to have been more than a com- 
mon Angel, and is generally supposed by the Ancients to 
have been no other than the Son of God, the eternal Logos 
of the Father. See Gen. 16*. 9 — 13. where there appear 
some internal marks of his superiority. The Chaldee para- 
phrase translates the 13th verse, " And she called on the 
name of the Lord, who spake with her." And the Jerusalem 



* See Jamieson's Vind. vol. 1. p. 54, 55. 



140 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART II, 



Targum says, ( - She prayed in the name of the Word of 
the Lord, that was revealed to her, and said, Blessed art 
thou, O God, &e." — c - This passage cannot suit with the 
person of the Father, whom it would not be proper to call 
an Angel; nor with the person of an Angel, whom 
it would not be proper to call God ; but it may comport 
with the person of Christ as an Angel and as God too, 
the Son of God, sent to reveal his Father's will. 
The heretics ought to consider that they run counter to 
sacred writ, while they admit that Christ is an Angel, and 
yet refuse to acknowledge that he is God also." Novat. 
e. 26. Again : — " The Angel, if he were only an Angel, 
why does he take upon him to say — I will make of him a 
great nation f — whereas such power belongs to God, and 
cannot belong to an Angel." — Let the reader consult the 
context and judge, whether the transactions therein de- 
scribed can be attributed either to the Father of the uni- 
verse, or any merely created Angel. 

97.* The Being, who appeared to Abraham, and with 
whom he interceded for Sodom, is addressed all the way 
through the history of that awful event by the appellation of 
Jehovah: Gen. 18. 17 — 33. — And Jehovah appeared 
unto Abraham in the plains of Mamre. And Jehovah 
said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do ? 
seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty 
nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in 
him ? For I know him that he will command his children, 
and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of 
Jehovah, to do justice and judgment ; that Jehovah may 
bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. 
And Jehovah said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomor- 
rah is great, and because their sin is very grievous ; I will 
go down now and see whether they have done altogether 
according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if 
not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from 
thence, and went towards Sodom : but Abraham stood yet 
before Jehovah. And Abraham drew near and said, Wilt 
thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked ? Perad- 
venture there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou 
also destroy, and not spare the place for the fifty righteous 
that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this 



sect. 8. View of Divine Appearances. 141 

manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the 
righteous should be as the wicked : that be far from thee : 
Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ? And 
Jehovah said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the 
city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. And 
Abraham answered and said, Behold, now I have taken 
upon me to speak unto Jehovah, who am but dust and 
ashes : peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righ- 
teous : wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five ? And 
he said, If I find there forty and five I will not destroy it. 
And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure 
there shall be found forty there ? And he said, I will not do 
it for forty's sake. And he said unto him, Oh, let not 
Jehovah be angry and I will speak : Peradventure there 
shall be thirty found there ? And he said, I will not do it, if 
I find thirty there. And he said, Behold, now I have taken 
upon me to speak unto Jehovah : Peradventure there shall 
be twenty found there? And he said, I will not destroy it 
for twenty's sake. And he said, Oh, let not Jehovah be 
angry, and I will speak yet but once : Peradventure ten 
shall be found there ? And he said, I will not destroy it for 
ten's sake. And Jehovah went his way, as soon as he had 
left communing with Abraham : and Abraham returned 
unto his place." 

Now what shall we say to this pathetic narration ? Our 
Lord assures us, that God the Father never has appeared to 
any man, at any time. Jehovah is a name never given to 
the Angels, but is always confined to the great I AM. The 
Logos of God, therefore, is the Jehovah here spoken of, as 
conversing with Abraham. That this was the opinion of 
the ancient Jews is evident from the Jerusalem Targum 
upon this chapter, where one of the three angels is called 
Memra of God. Thus speaks the Paraphrase upon Gen. 
18. 2. Three angels were sent unto our father Abraham, 
and these three were sent for three purposes, since it is 
impossible for one of the highest angels to be sent but for 
ope thing. The first angel was sent to tell our father 
Abraham, that Sarah should bring forth Isaac j the second 
was sent to deliver Lot out of the midst of the overthrow : 
the third angel was sent to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, 
Admah and Zeboim, Therefore he was the prophetic 



142 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART II. 



Word, and the Word of the Lord appeared to him in the 
valley of vision. 

The learned Philo was of the same opinion ; for he says, 
after reciting those words of Genesis, " The sun was risen 
upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar, and the Lord 
rained brimstone and fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah," he 
immediately adds, For the Word of God, when he visits the 
earth, assists those that are virtuous, or inclined to be so, in 
affording them all refuge and safety; but to them who op- 
pose him he sends inevitable ruin and destruction. 

Justin Martyr is of the same opinion : — When the scrip- 
ture says, a The Lord rained fire from the Lord out of 
heaven," the prophetic word indicates two numerical exis- 
tences, the one existing on earth, whom it reports to have 
come down in order to examine the cry of Sodom, the other 
abiding in the heavens, who is also the Lord of the Lord 
on earth, as being Father and God, and the cause of exis- 
tence to him, who is both powerful, and Lord, and God." 

98. The story of Abimelech and Abraham, and God's 
appearing to vindicate Sarah's honour, is of a nature similar 
to all the other Divine manifestations. See Gen. 20. 3- — 7« 
where the Chaldee paraphrase has it, " The Word came 
from before God."* 

99. The appearance of God to Abraham again concern- 
ing Ishmael is of the same kind. The circumstances of the 
story render it inconsitent either with the Father of the 
universe, or a created Angel. It must have been, therefore, 
the Logos of God, who appeared, according to the opinion of 
all antiquity. See Gen. 21. 12 — 21. 

100. * The circumstances of the history make it very 
evident also, that it was the same glorious Being who ap- 
peared to Abraham again, after he had offered his only son 
Isaac in sacrifice f. Gen. 22. The chapter begins with 

* Dial, cum Tray ph. p. 358. 
t In our account of all these Divine manifestations, the reader would 
do well to have his bible in his hand, and turn to the chapters as they 
occur, since it would swell this treatise (already too large) to a much 
greater bulk, were we to produce all the histories at length. Upon such 
perusal he will find, that the Person, who appears and speaks, is neither 
the Father of the universe, nor any created Angel. There are certain 
traits, however, in every one of these sacred stories, which indicate the 
character of the person to be truly divine. 



/ 



sect. 8, View of Divine Appearances. 143 

informing us, that " God did tempt Abraham." At the 
twelfth verse the Angel of God says, u Lay not thy hand 
upon the lad, for now I know thou fearest God, seeing thou 
hast not withheld thy son from me." If the Angel of God, 
the Angel of the covenant, had not been the person, who 
tempted Abraham to offer up his son, he would certainly 
have used the pronoun him instead of me, as the term God 
immediately precedes. This will be confirmed by what fol- 
lows, where the Angel swears by himself, and blesses Abra 
ham for obeying his voice,t\\e voice of the Angel: he does not 
say the voice of God, which he ought to have done, had the 
person who spoke been an inferior messenger acting in the 
name of Jehovah *. 

101. When Jacob fled from his brother Esau, he was 
favoured with a very singular and encouraging vision of the 
Almighty, who declared himself to be the God of his fathers, 
Abraham and Isaac. See Gen. 28. 10 — 17. and compare it 
with Gen. 31. 11, 13. and Gen. 48. 15, 16. Upon this 
comparison it appears, that the God of Abraham and Isaac, 
in the first passage, is an Angel, in the other places. But the 
Father of the universe is never called an Angel : the whole 
must be attributed, therefore, to the Son of God, who was, 
at the same time, the God of Abraham and Isaac, the God 
of Bethel, the God that fed Jacob all his life long, the 
Angel, which redeemed him from all evil, and the Messen- 
ger of the covenant. Comp. John 1.51. and see Maurice's 
Indian Antiquities, vol. 4, p. 504, 505. 

102. The story of Jacob's wrestling with an angel is of a 
similar kindf. This Will appear pretty manifest, if the 
narrative be compared with the account the prophet Hosea 
gives of the same transaction : " Jacob took his brother by 
the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with 
God : yea, he had power over the Angel, and prevailed. 
He wept and made supplication unto him. He found him 
in Bethel, and there he spake with us; even the Lord God 
of hosts, the Lord is his memorial." Hosea 12. 3— 5„ 

* See the faith of the ancient Jews, concerning that person who is cal- 
led the Angel of the Lord, in Jamieson's Vindication, book 1. chap. 8. 
where the several appearances are set in a very satisfactory point of view. 

t Gen. 24. 30. 



144 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART II. 



" The Lord shewed, that it was not only a man who then 
wrestled with Jacob, but also God. He was both an Angel, 
and God, and Lord, who, in the form of a man, wrestled 
with Jacob #" 

103.* Is not the appearance of the Angel to Moses in 
the bush of the same kind also ? The serious inquirer will 
read the passage and judge : " And the Angel of the Lord 
appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a 
bush : and he looked, and behold the bush burned with fire, 
and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will 
now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not 
burned. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to 
see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and 
said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, 
Draw not nigh hither : put off thy shoes from off thy feet : 
for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. More- 
over, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abra- 
ham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses 
hid his face ; for he was afraid to look upon God" Ex. 3. 
2 — 6. Let this account be compared with the history of the 
same transaction in the Acts of the apostles : " And when 
forty years were expired, there appeared to Moses in the wil- 
derness of mount Sinai, an angel of the Lord in a flame of 
fire in a bush. And when Moses saw it he wondered at the 
sight : and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the 
Lord came unto him, saying, I am the God of thy fathers, 
the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of 
Jacob. Then Moses trembled and durst not behold. Then 
said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet : for 
the place where thou standest is holy ground. I have seen, 
I have seen the affliction of my people, which is in Egypt, 
and I have heard their groaning and am come down to deliver 
them." Acts 7- 20 — 34. Justin Martyr, speaking of this 
transaction, says, " Permit me to show you out of the book 
of Exodus, how the very same person, who appeared to Abra- 
ham and Jacob, as an angel, and God, and Lord, and Man, 
appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of the bush and talked 
with him/' — Soon after he adds — cc You have seen, gentle- 
men, that the same person whom Moses calls an angel, and 



*Novat. c. 27, 



SECT 8. 



View of Divine Appearances. 



145 



who conversed with him in a flame of fire ; that very person 
heing God, signifies to Moses, that himself is the God of 
Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob." * Comp. Jos. 5. 13 
—15. 

104. * It seems to have been no other than the Son of 
God who slew all the first-born of the land of Egypt : for 
the sacred history attributes the whole to Jehovah. The 
Chaldee paraphrase applies the destruction to the Word of 
the Lord, a term common in that work for the Son of God. 

105. It seems also to have been the Son of God, who 
gave the law on mount Sinai, surrounded by his host of an- 
gels. Ex. 19. 3 — 6. Irenseus says, that the Lord himself, 
(that is Christ) spake the words of the decalogue. See lib. 
4. c. 31. Clemens Alexand. says also,, that the Word 
declared himself the peedagogue, when he said in person, " I 
am the Lord thy God, who .brought thee out of the land of 
Egypt." Paedag. lib. 1. p. 131. 

And our learned Lightfoot tells us that the great An^el 
Christ, at the giving of the law, was the speaker, and all 
the created angels his silent attendants. Works, vol. 2. p. 
1229. 

106. * Was not the angel that accompanied the Israel- 
ites in the wilderness, by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by 
night in a pillar of fire, the Son of God also ? The reader 
will form his own judgment when he has carefully perused 
the history of that wonderful appointment. SeeEx. 23. 20.— 
22.-32. 34—33. 2. Isaiah. 63. 9, 10.— 1 Cor. 10. 9.— 
The. learned Philo says, that God hath set over the works of 
his hands his true Word, his first-begotten Son. And then 
he quotes that passage in the 23d. of Exodus, 66 Behold I 
am, and I will send my Angel before thy face to keep thee in 
the way." % 

Clemens Alexandrinus also says, " It was the Son of God 
who led the people in the wilderness. "f 

Our very learned Bishop Patrick hesitates in ascribing 
this and some other appearances of angels to the Logos of 
God, although he admits of such appearance when any epi- 
thet descriptive of his character is added. He is afraid of 

* Dial, cum, Tryph. p 281, 282. J Philo de Agricultqra, p. 19.5. t Pe- 
dagogous, b. 1. c. 7. 

I* 



146 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



FART II, 



degrading the Son of God, by attributing to him an office 
beneath his proper dignity. But when we consider how ex- 
tremely low he afterwards condescended to redeem the hu- 
man race, we shall not find it difficult to suppose that he 
might be the leader of the hosts of Israel through the wilder- 
ness, and submit, for the good of his people, to other offices, 
which we might think beneath him.* 

107. The glorious Being, who revealed himself to Moses 
and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Is- 
rael, appears to have been the same. Ex.24. 9 — 11. 

108. It appears from the circumstances of the history, 
that the Angel who withstood Balaam in the way, as he 
went to curse the Israelites at the instigation of Balak, 
was no other than the Son of God, and the Lord of angels, 
the eternal Wond, by whom the worlds were made. J Num. 
22. 22 35. 

109. * Is not the appearance of the angel to Joshua of a 
similar kind ? It should seem from his manner of address- 
ing him, that he was the same being who some years before 
had spoken to Moses in the burning bush. See Jos. 5. 13 — • 
15. and compare the two appearances. Archbishop Usher 
says upon this place, Jesus our Lord, the Prince of his Fa- 
ther's host, appearing to him who was a type of him at Jeri- 
cho, with a drawn sword, promised to be the defender of the 
people. Consult Patrick on the place, who is particularly 
satisfactory. 

1 10 * The Angel of the Lord, that came up from Gilgal 
to Bochim, where he rebuked the children of Israel, was the 
same that brought them up out of Egypt, and established 
them in Canaan, for I, he says, " made you to go up out of 
Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware 
unto your fathers, and I said, I will never break my covenant 
with you — but ye have not obeyed my voice !" See Judges 
2. 1 — 23. Consult Patrick on the place, where he ascribes 
all that is here said to the same Angel, who had appeared to 
Joshua by Jericho, and calls him the Angel of the covenant." 

Ill* The angel that appeared to Gideon, likewise, 

* See Patrick on Gen, 48. 16, and Exodus 23, 20, 
t The angel who appeared to Abraham was avIoC 0 MyoC, says Irenaeus, 
in Fragni. p, 471: Jortin's Dissertations, p. 186: 



sect. 8. View of Divine Appearances.. 147 

seems to have been no other than the Son of God in human 
form. See Judg. 6. 1 1 — 27. In the twelfth verse the Tar- 
gum translates it, " The Word of the Lord is thy help 
whereby it appears, the ancient Jews did not look upon this 
Angel merely as an heavenly messenger sent from God, but 
as the Lord himself, as he is called, ver. 1 4, 16*, 23, 24, 25, 
27. In the thirteenth verse the Targum makes it, " Is the 
Shechinah of the Lord our help ? Whence then hath all this 
happened unto us }" From which it appears that the Word of 
the Lord, and the Shechinah of the Lord, were w r ith them 
the same. Consult Patrick on the whole chapter, especially 
the 23d. verse, where he attributes the appearance to the Son 
of God. 

112. * The angel that appeared to Manoah and his wife, 
seems to have been the same that appeared to Gideon 
and Joshua, and the other ancient Worthies before 
mentioned. Judges 13. 2 — 23. I must refer the reader to 
Bishop Patrick again, who considers this Angel also to be 
the Logos of God. A learned man hath summed up these 
divine manifestations in the manner following: — "It was 
the voice of the Logos Adam and Eve heard walking in the 
garden. It was he who swept away the old world by a flood, 
and preserved Noah and his family. It was he who cursed 
Ham and his son Canaan, by the mouth of Noah. It was 
he who called Abraham. And in a word, it was God the 
Father mediately, and the Son immediately that did and act- 
ed all that is attributed to God in the Old as well as in the 
New Testament* Hence we may easily see whence it is 
said, that Moses chose to suffer affliction, rather than to sin, 
as esteeming the reproach of Christ better than all the trea- 
sures of Egypt : and upon what account we are exhorted not 
to tempt Christ, as the Israelites in the wilderness did ; and 
whence it is that Peter asserts, that Christ, by his Spirit, did 
irradiate the Prophets of old, with all those predictions we 
find in their writings, of Christ's sufferings, and the New Tes- 
tament times."* 

1 13. The same person, that is so frequently denominated 
the Word of the Lord, is, at other times characterized by the 
title, The name of Jehovah, nifT DW as in Isaiah 30. 27. 

* Fleming's Christology, vol, 1, p, 227—234. 



148 



CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 



PART II. 



"Behold, the Name of Jehovah cometh from far, burning 
with his anger." In Prov. 18. 10. we have a similar expres- 
sion ; " The Name of the Lord is a strong tower : thither 
the righteous runneth, and is safe." This is applied to Mes- 
siah in Midrasch Tillim. And Philo tells us, that the Lo- 
gos is the Name of the Lord. So that it is not improbable, 
but the Name of the Lord, in the Prophet, is the same per- 
son. Comp. Ps. 23. 3. 

114. Daniel has given us the account of a most extraordinary 
manifestation both of the Father andtheSon. Few descriptions 
are so sublime and magnificent. The first person in the sa- 
cred Trinity is described in the following manner : — " I be- 
held till the thrones were fixed, and the Ancient of Days 
did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of 
his head like the pure wool : his throne was like the fiery 
flame, and his wheels like burning fire. A fiery stream issued 
and came forth from before him : thousand thousands mi- 
nistered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand 
stood before him : the judgment was set> and the books 
were opened." After this the second person of the Trinity is 
introduced : — " And, behold, one like the Son of man came 
with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days : 
and there was given him dominion, and glory, and a king- 
dom ; that all people, nations, and languages, should serve 
liim. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall 
not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be de- 
stroyed." Daniel 7, 9, 10, 13, 14. When this visionary 
representation is compared with the other celestial appear- 
ances we have had occasion to review, it will be found to con- 
firm this general proposition, that the Son of God, who is 
here called the Son of man, existed before he was conceiv- 
ed. 

115. The prophet Zechariah had a vision of a man rid- 
ing upon a red horse, who is called in the following verses 
an angel', which is generally supposed to be the angel of 
the covenant. Chap. 1. 7— 11. See Lowth on these ver- 
ses, where he considers one of the Angels mentioned as the 
Logos of God, with a good degree of plausibility. And he 
shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the an- 
gel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to 
resist hinu And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lordrehuke 



SECT. S. 



View of Divine Appearances, 



thee, O Satan, even. the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem 
rebuke thee." Zech. 3. i, 2. Here seem to be two Jclio- 
vahs mentioned, one of whom is called an angel, which can 
be no other than the angel of the covenant. Comp. Chap. 
12. 8. See Lowth on the place. 

116. Isaiah was favoured with a vision of the Almighty 
truly sublime and magnificent. " In the year that king Uz- 
ziah died, says he, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, 
high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple." Chap. 
6. 1 — 3. In the fifth verse of this chapter the same person 
is called " The King, the Lord of hosts." St. John, chap. 
12. 41, tells us, that the person, whom the prophet saw in 
this vision, was Jesus Christ. " These things said Isaiah 
when he saw his glory, and spake of him." Christ, there- 
fore, in the opinion of St. John, is the Lord of hosts. — Euse- 
bius understands the wholeof this representation of the Prophet 
as applicable to the Son of God only. "What Lord was this," 
he asks, " which the Prophet saw ? No other surely but he 
that was seen by Abraham and the old Patriarchs, and with 
whom they spake and conversed ; even he who was at once 
God, and Lord, and Angel, and supreme General of God's 
armies. He being about to give the Prophet an account of 
his appearing among men, thought fit to represent unto him 
first the glory of his kingdom, and therefore discovers him- 
self as sitting in state and majesty upon a most glorious 
throne ; which throne is the same that the Psalmist speaks 
of, when he says, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever," 
&c. where it is plain that God speaks to Christ his Son con- 
cerning his kingdom. And of this the Psalmist speaks 
again, when he says, " The Lord said unto my Lord, sit 
thou," &c * Dem. Evang, 1. 7, c. 1. 

If all the divine dispensations from the beginning of 
time have been conducted by the Logos of God, as the Son, 
and Heir, and Angel, of his almighty Father, then we may, 
with propriety, apply to him the most sublime hymn of the 

This application of the Prophet's vision to Christ is confirmed by the 
concurring testimony of most of the Christian Fathers. See Just. Mart* 
Quest, et Resp. p. 417. Irenaeus, lib. 4. c. 37. Athan. p. 877, 889. Hih 
Trin. 1. 5. c. 33. Basil Cont. Eunom. 1. 5; Hieron. in loco. Epip. An- 
corat. p. 13, 15. Cyril Hier. Cat. 14. Amb de Fid. 1 1. c. 12. Greg, 
Nyss. cont. Eunom. 1. 2. 



150 



CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 



PART. II. 



prophet Habakkuk. This is the more allowable, because the 
thirteenth verse expressly ascribes the mighty works comme- 
morated in the hymn to the agency of Messiah. " Thou 
wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, for salvation 
with thy Messiah." He is speaking of the successes of Jo- 
shua, and probably alludes to the Captain ol the Lord's host 
mentioned in Jos. 5. 13 — 15. It may be allowable, there- 
fore, to consider Messiah as the conducter of all the wonder- 
ful works described with so much sublimity in this noble com- 
position. 

The subject of it is this : — God having threatened that 
he would send his people into captivity for their sins, the 
prophet undertakes to intercede with him, that the time of 
it may be shortened. Tbis is the introduction, and is com- 
prehended in the second verse. Then from that to the six- 
teenth verse he takes a survey of the many wonderful works 
•which God had wrought for Israel in bringing them out of 
Egypt, and giving them possession of the land of Canaan. 
In the sixteenth verse the prophet describes in what manner 
he was affected with the threatening, and takes occasion from 
thence to pray, that he might be gathered to his fathers in 
peace, before the king of Babylon should invade Judea, and 
carry the people captive ; adding in the seventeenth verse, as 
a reason for his prayer, a description of the desolation which 
should then come upon the land. 

After this, the prophet concludes in the eighteenth verse 
with declaring, that whatever became of himself, he would 
still rejoice in hope, that God would visit his people again 
with his salvation. And then, verse ninteenth, glorying in 
Jehovah as their strength, the prophet rests assured, that he 
would in due time restore the captive Jews to their own land, 
giving them the agility of the hind to return once more to 
the fertile and delightful hills of Judea. 

The words of Eusebius will close this account of the di- 
vine manifestations with effect : — 66 1 will here explain my- 
self," says this learned Father, "upon the fundamental 
point of Christ's divinity and humanity, so as to silence those 
adversaries, who call the Christian religion a new and upstart 
institution. They are, therefore, desired to understand, 
that its author's nature and substance is of an existence inef- 
fably eternal \ for " who shall declare his generation ? No 



SECT. 8, 



View of Divine Appearances. 



151 



one has known the Father but the Son, and no one the Son 
but the Father with whom, and from whom he subsisted 
from everlasting, the glorious minister of his will; by whom, 
as he created, so he governs all things, his only begotten 
Son, truly God : for " In the beginning was the Word, and 
tfoe Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things 
were made by him, and without him was nothing made." Ac- 
cordingly^ Moses assures us, that the Father communicated 
with him his counsel of creating man, where he says, " Let 
us make man after our image." To the same effect the 
Psalmist ; " He spake and they were made ; he commanded 
and they were crea ted." The Father pronounced his plea- 
sure, which the Son administered. This is he whom, the 
Patriarchs and Prophets, both before and after Moses, be- 
held frequently exhibited before their eyes, and as frequently 
received with adorations. This is the Lord God, that ap- 
peared to Abraham in a human shape, before whom he kneel- 
ed, and to whom he addressed himself in these words, "Shall 
not the Lord of all the earth judge righteously ?" The scrip- 
ture cannot lie, nor the God- head become a human body ; 
so that unless by the a Lord of the whole earth," in this 
place, is meant the first-begotten cause of things, which it 
cannot be, it must signify the Logos, or Word ; concerning 
whom the Psalmist says, " He sent out his Word, and heal- 
ed them, and they were saved from their destruction." This 
is that Lord " That rained fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah 
from the Lord out of heaven :" that God who wrestled with 
Jacob, and from whom he called the place where they strove, 
" The vision of God," because he had seen him face to face. 
Nor were these the appearances of angels ; the scripture 
ascribing them not, as at other times, to angels, but to God. 
Thus, again when he presented himself in the form of a man 
before Joshua, he tells him the place is sanctified by his pre- 
sence ; at which Joshua falls upon his knees, and acknow- 
ledges him " Captain of the host of the Lord." So we find 
the place where he talked with Moses consecrated by his 
presence; for he was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Ja- 
cob, the Wisdom of God " Before the foundation of the 
world, that pitched his tabernacle with prudence, and called 
to him knowledge and understanding; by whom princes 
rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth ; whom 
the Lord created the beginning of his ways, before his works 



152 



CHARACTER OF MESSIAH. 



PART II 



of old." Thus it pleased the divine goodness to manifest 
itself — till the world being prepared for the entertainment of 
his divine truths, the Son of God came incarnate to perform, 
to teach, and to suffer whatever the prophets had foretold 
concerning him ; and, lastly, to receive that kingdom, that 
universal, everlasting dominion, which the prophet Daniel 
represents him invested with, in the midst of thousand thou- 
sands and ten thousand times ten thousand. All these cha- 
racteristics are applicable only to the eternal Word incar- 
nate."* 

We have brought our inquiry, concerning the person of 
Jesus, down through the historical and prophetical scriptures 
for a period of 3600 years ; or rather, from the beginning of 
the world to the birth of Christ, which is about 4000 years ; 
and the amount of the evidence seems very decisive for the 
pre-existence and eternal divinity of the Son of God. 



* Ecclesiast. Hist. 1. 1, c, 2, 



sect. 1. Testimonies prior to his Birth. 



153 



PART THIRD, 



SECTION I. 



VARIOUS TESTIMONIES TO THE PERSON AND CHARACTER 
OF CHRIST, IMMEDIATELY ANTECEDENT TO HIS BIRTH, 
AND DURING HIS ABODE UPON EARTH. 



Testimonies to the Deity of Jesus antecedent to his birth. 
— Reasoning of Bishop Pearson upon the name IM- 
MANUEL.— -Testimonies to the character of Jesus 
during his abode upon earth. — Origeh's opinion of the 
Offerings presented to Jesus by the Wise Men. — The 
Apostles refused the Worship which Jesus accepted. — ; 
Whitby's sentiments on the adoration paid to Jesus by 
Thomas, 

It is time to proceed to an examination of the New 
Testament. And here, likewise, we will conduct our in- 
quiry, as nearly as may be, according to the order of time, 
because the evidence grows clearer and fuller, till we arrive 
towards the close of the scripture canon. 

117-* First, then, the angel Gabriel spake strong things 
of the Redeemer's glory, some time before he was con- 
ceived. " Many of the children of Israel," says he to Za- 
charias, " shall John turn to the Lord their God, And he 



154 



PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS* 



part tm 



shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn 
the hearts of the fathers to the children ; and the disobedi- 
ent to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people pre- 
pared for the Lord. Luke 1. 16', 17. — Dr. Clarke observes 
upon the above words, the Lord their God, that " they are, 
in strictness of construction, immediately connected with 
the following word, him ; which must necessarily be under- 
stood of Christ." Whether the expression, the Lord their 
God, will, in consequence, belong likewise to him, the 
reader must judge. It seems so to me 5 and the learned 
Doctor appears to have been of the same opinion. * 

118.* "Fear not, Mary; for thou hast found favour 
with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, 
and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He 
shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest ; 
and the Lord God shall give unto hirn the throne of his fa- 
ther David : and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for 
ever ; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said 
Mary unto the Angel, How shall this be, seeing I know 
not a Man ? And the Angel answered and said unto her, 
The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the 
Highest shall overshadow thee ; therefore also that holy 
thing, which shall be born of thee, shall be called The Son 
of God:' Luke 1. 30—35. 

" Vain are the Ebionites, who" says Irenaeus, " do not 
receive into their faithless minds the union of God and Man, 
but, persisting in the old leaven of production, are unwilling 
to understand, that the Holy Ghost came upon Mary, and 
the power of the Highest overshadowed her ; wherefore that 
which was conceived is holy, and the Son of the most high 
God, the Father of the universe, who effected his incarna- 
tion, and showed an example of a new generation ; that, 
inasmuch as by the former generation, we inherited death, so 
by this generation we might inherit life." f 

Tertullian expresses this miraculous transaction in va- 
rious ways : " He is a ray of God, which, darting down upon 
a certain virgin, and being in her womb fashioned into flesh, 
was born a Man mixt with God." J 

* Scrip, Doct. p. 72, i Lib. 5. cap, 1, * Apol. adv, Gentei, cap. 21, 



sect. 1. Testimonies prior to his birth. 155 

Again : — " We have learned that Christ proceeded forth 
from God, and was begotten by procedure, and, therefore, 
that he is called the Son of God, and God, from the unity 
of substance/' * 

Again : — " The sun will be in the ray, because the ray 
is off the sun, nor is the substance separated, but extended : 
what goeth forth from God is God, and the Son of God, and 
both are one." f 

Again : — " The flesh is not God, but he who was born in 
the flesh is God. — A double state then we see, not confused, 
but united in one person, God and the Man Jesus." J 

Origen says, " The Word of God, clothed in the flesh of 
Mary, came forth into the world, and, indeed, it was one 
thing which in him was seen, another which was understood. 
For the appearance of flesh in him was obvious to all ; but 
to few and chosen persons was the knowledge of his God- 
head imparted." § 

Again : — "Christ is the Word of God; but the Word 
was made flesh* In Christ, therefore, there is one sub- 
stance from above, another assumed of the human nature 
and the virgin's womb." || 

St. Cyprian declares of him, that " the Holy Ghost co- 
operating, he took flesh of a virgin, and thus became God 
mixed with Man." * 

119* The testimony of Elizabeth, the mother of John 
the Baptist, is this : — " And Elizabeth was filled with the 
Holy Ghost ; and she spake out with a loud voice, and said, 
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of 
thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of 
my Lord should come to me ?" Luke 1. 41 — 43. 

120.* The declarations of Zacharias, the father of John, 
are somewhat similar to those of his wife. Being filled with 
the Holy Ghost he said : — " And thou, child, shalt be call- 
ed, the prophet of the Highest ; for thou shalt go before 
the face of the Lord to prepare his ways ; to give knowledge 
of salvation unto his people, by the remission of their sins, 
through the tender mercy of our God ; whereby the day- 
spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them 
that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, to guide 
our feet into the way of peace." Luke 1. 76 — 79. 

* Ibid ,t Ibid, % Adv, Prax. cap, 27, § Horn, 1. in Levit. 
}| Horn: 9. in Genesin, # De Vanitate Idol, 



156 



PERSONAL CHARACTER OP JESUS. PART III. 



121. * The Angel, after the birth of Jesus, gave the 
shepherds to understand, that there was something very ex- 
traordinary in his character : — - (i And there were in the 
country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over 
their flock by night. And, lo ! the Angel of the Lord came 
upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about 
them ; and they were sore afraid. And the Angel said unto 
them, Fear not : for, behold, I bring you good tidings of 
great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is 
born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ 
the Lord. — Suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude 
of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God 
in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men/' 
Luke 2. 8— 14. 

122. The testimony of good old Simeon is much the 
same with all the former : — "There was a man in Jerusalem 
whose name was Simeon : and the same man was just and- 
devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel : and the Holy 
Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the 
Holy Ghost, that he should not see death before he had seen 
the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the tem- 
ple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to 
do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up 
in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest 
thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word ; for 
mine eyes have seen thy Salvation, which thou hast prepa- 
red before the face of all people ; a Light to lighten the 
Gentiles, and the Glory of thy people Israel." Luke 2. 
25-32. 

123. Matthew's account of his birth is well known : — 
6i Now/' says he, " the birth of Jesus Christ was on this 
wise : When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, 
before they came together, she was found with child of the 
Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband^ being a just man, 
and not willing to make her a public example, was minded 
to put her away privily. But while he thought on these 
things, behold, the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in 
a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take 
unto thee Mary, thy wife ; for that which is conceived in 
her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, 
and thou shalt call his name Jesus ; for he shall save his 
people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might 



sect. 1. Testimonies prior to his Birth. 157 

be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the Prophet, 
saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring 
forth a Son, and they shall call his name Immanuel ; 
which, being interpreted, is god with us/'* Some writers 
would insinuate, that Matthew may here mean the Father ; 
but a bare perusal of the passage will easily refute the suppo- 
sition. The text is plain and full to the contrary. It is 
then pretended, that the name Immanuel proves nothing 
more, in point of argument, than the names of places, such 
as Jehovah- Jireh, Jehovah-Shammah, Jehovah-Shalom, Je- 
hovah-Nissi, and the like. In answer to this surmise, we 
will here introduce first, the reasoning of bishop Pearson 
upon it ; observing, that most, if not all the Fathers of the 
church, from Irenseus downwards, always considered this 
text as a proof that Christ was possessed of real and proper 
divinity, f — " That the name of God invested by way of ex- 
cellency with an article is attributed in the scriptures unto 
Christ, may thus be made good : He who is called Imma- 
nuel is named God by way of excellency ; for that name, 
saith Matthew, being interpreted, is God with us, and in 
that interpretation the Greek article is prefixed. But Christ 
is called immanuel ; that it might he fulfilled which ivas 
spoken of the Lord hy the Prophet, saying, Behold a vir- 
gin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and 
they shall call his name Immanuel. Therefore he is that 
God with us, which is expressed by way of excellency, and 
distinguished from all other who are any way honoured with 
that name. For it is a vain imagination to think that Christ 
is called Immanuel, but that he is not what he is called : as 
Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-Nis- 
si, and Gideon another called Jehovah-Shalom ; and yet, 
neither altar was Jehovah : as Jerusalem was called the 
Lord our Righteousness, and yet that city was not the Lord. 
Because these two notions, which are enjoined in the name 
Immanuel, are severally true of Christ. First, he is Im- 
manu, that is, with us, for he hath dwelt among us ; and 
when he parted from the earth, he said to his disciples, / 

* Mat,l, 18—23, See Whitby oh the place, 
f See Irenseus, lib. 3. cap. 21, and lib. 4. cap, 66— Tertul Adv, Jud, cap 
9. etcont. Marc, lib, 3. cap. 13. Vide et cont. Prax cap. 37. Novat, cap 
12 Cyp. Tesi. lib. % cap. 6. Ens. Comment in Isa. 7, 14 



158 PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. PART III. 



am ivith youahvay, even to the end of the world. Secondly, 
he is el, and that name was given him, as the same prophet 
testifie th jjfor unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; 
and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, 
the mighty god. He then who is both properly called EL, 
that is God, and is also really Immanu, that is, with us, he 
must infallibly be that Immanuel who is, God with us. In- 
deed, if the name Immanuel were to be interpreted by way 
of a proposition, God is with us, as the Lord our Righteous- 
ness, and the Lord is there, must be understood where they 
are the names of Jerusalem ; then should it have been the 
name, not of Christ, but of his church : and if we under the 
gospel had been called so, it would have received no other 
interpretation in reference to us. But being it is not ours, 
but our Saviour's name, it bears no kind of similitude with 
those objected appellations, and is as properly and directly to 
be attributed to the Messias as to the name of Jesus. Where- 
fore it remaineth that Christ be acknowledged God with us, 
according to the evangelical interpretation, with an expres- 
sion of that excellency which belongeth to the Supreme 
Deity" On the Creed, art. 2. p. 130. 

124.* Let us now pass on to what John the Baptist, and 
forerunner of our Lord, hath delivered concerning him. His 
evidence is confined within a narrow compass, but yet it- is 
stronger and fuller than any of the former, and confirmative 
of all the predictions which had gone before concerning him. 
His words are these : — " I indeed baptize you with water ; 
but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes 
I am not worthy to unloose ; he shall baptize you with the 
the Holy Ghost, and with fire : whose fan is in his hand, 
and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the 
wheat into his garner ; but the chaff he will burn with fire 
unquenchable."* Luke 3. 16, 17. 

* The reader will be much edified by a perusal of Dr. Bell's Enquiry in- 
to the Divine Missions of John the Baptist, and Jesus Christ. It is an 
able and ingenious performance. And it will be convenient to peruse 
carefully his Arguments for the authenticity of the two first chapters of 
Matthew and Luke's gospels. They appear to me decisive. See too the 
learned Dr. Campbell on the Four Gospels, vol. 1. page 358, where he de- 
livers in few words the substance of all that can be advanced on the authen- 
ticity of the two chapters in Matthew* 



»ect. i. Testimonies prior to his Birth, 159 

125. * " John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, 
This was he of whom I spake, lie that cometh after me is 
preferred before me : for he was before me. And of his 
fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the 
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus 
Christ. No man hath seen God at any time ; the only-begot- 
ten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath de- 
clared him." John 1. 15—8. 

126. * " I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness^ 
Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esa- 
ias." John 1. 23, Compare Isa. 40. 3. 

127. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, 
and saith, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the 
sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me 
cometh a man which is preferred before me; for he was before 
me. And I knew him not : but that he should be made ma- 
nifest to Israel, therefore I am come baptizing with water. 
And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending 
from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And 
1 knew him not ; but he that sent me to baptize with water, 
the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spi- 
rit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which 
baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bare record 
that this is the Son of God. John. I. 29 — 34, 

128. * And again, on another occasion, we find the 
same faithful witness addressing the cavilling Jews in 
the following strain : — " A man can receive nothing 
except it be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me 
witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent 
before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom : but 
the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth 
him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. 
This my joy therefore is fulfilled, He must increase, but I 
must decrease. He that cometh from above is above all. 
He that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth: 
he that cometh from heaven is above all. And what he 
hath seen and heard^ that he testifieth; and no man receiv- 
eth his testimony. He that hath received his testimony 
hath set to his seal that God is true. For he whom God 



* Here are in this passage three declarations of Christ's pre-existence. 



160 PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. PART HI, 

hath sent speaketh the words of God : for God giveth not the 
Spirit by measure unto him. The Father loveth the Son, 
and hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth 
on the Son hath everlasting life : and he that believeth not 
the Son shall not see life : but the wrath of God abideth on 
him." John 3. 27—36. 

129. * Nathaniel, whom our Saviour dignified with the 
appellation of " An Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile/' 
struck with a proof of his omniscience, cried out, " Rabbi, 
thou art the Son of God ; thou art the King of Israel * 
thou art he who for so many ages hast been considered as the 
King of the Jews. 

130. Martha, the sister of Lazarus and Mary, was 
no stranger to the character of Jesus. "I believe," said 
this good woman, " that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, 
which should come into the world." John 11. 27. 

131. The confession of Peter is of a similar kind : — 
s: Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou hast the words of* eter- 
nal life, And we believe and are sure that thou art that 
Christ, the Son of the living God." John 6. 68, 69. 

132. * When Jesus came into the coasts of Cesarea 
Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, Whom do men say, 
that I, the Son of man, am ? And they said, Some say, that 
thou art John the Baptist; some Elias ; and others Jeremias, 
or one of the Prophets. He saith unto them, but whom say 
ye that I am ? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art 
the Christ, the Son of the living God." Mat. 16. 13—16. Our 
Saviour was much pleased with the frank and noble confes- 
sion which Peter had made in the name of all his other dis- 
ciples, and declared, that he had come to the knowledge of 
his real character by no ordinary means. " Jesus answered 
and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon bar-jona, for 
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father 
which is in heaven." Mat. 16. 17. He then proceeds to 
inform the zealous apostle, that upon this confession, of his 
being " The Son of God," his church should be founded, 
and all the powers of darkness should never prevail against 
it. " And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and up- 
on this rock I will build my church ; and the gates of hell 



* John 1. 49. 



sect. 1. Testimonies during his abode upon Earth. 161 

shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the 
keys of the kingdom of heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt 
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever thou 
shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Mat. 16. 
18. 19. If to the above confession of Peter we add the de- 
claration which he made upon another occasion, " Lord, 
thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee, % 
it will appear, that even then, before the descent of the Ho- 
ly Ghost on the day of Pentecost, he had a very exalted opi- 
nion of the character of Jesus. 

133. And when the wise men were come into the 
house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and 
fell down, and worshipped him : and when they had opened 
their treasures, they presented unto him gifts ; gold, and frank- 
incense, and myrrh/' Mat. 2. 1 1.— This was the testimony of 
Heathens to the divinity of Jesus. We find all his own apostles 
together acknowledging the same thing. Tertullian says 
that the prophecy iu the 7-nd psalm was fulfilled by the 
gifts made to the infant Saviour, and by the honour paid to 
him at Bethlehem by the wise men; "who, when they 
knew him, honoured him with gifts, and, believing in Christ, 
on their knees adored him as their God and King."f 

Origen was of the same opinion : — " The wise men," 
says he, " conceiving our Lord to be greater than all their 
gods, resolved to worship him, and coming into Judea they 
ottered symbols to him, who, if we may so speak, was com- 
pounded of God and mortal man, gold as to a king, myrrh as 
to one who was to die, and frankincense as ip a God. And 
as he was God superior to the assistant angels, being the Sa- 
viour of mankind, the angel rewarded their piety in worship- 
ping Jesus, by warning them not to return to Herod. - ' 

Then was fulfilled the prophecy of David — The kings of 
Tarshish and o f the isles shalt bring- presents, and the kings 
of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. § Ps. 72. 10. 

134. * Now, say they, ;t we are sure that thou knowest 
all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee ; 
by this we believe, that thou comest forth from God. John, 
16*. 30. Here we have both the omniscience and pre-exis- 
tence of the Redeemer. 

X John 91. 17— See Whitby on the place- t Adv, Jud»o<?, cap. 9, Adv, 
Celsum, lib* J, SThisis What Tertullian alludes to, 

M 



162 



PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESCJS* 



PART Iff. 



X35. Upon our Lord's calming a violent tempest on the 
sea, the people of the ship came and paid him worship, say- 
ing, "Of a truth thou art the Son of God." Mat. 14. 33, 
et We never find that the apostles accepted worship, on 
account of the miracles done by them, but refused it, when 
offered, with the utmost detestation ; referring all worship to 
the living God, and him only. It is strange that our blessed 
Lord, who was all meekness and humility, should not have 
been more resigned in this particular, had he been any thing 
less than the eternal son of God."* 

136. It is to be observed likewise, that our Saviour's greatest 
adversaries, upon some occasions, bore very honourable, 
though undesigned testimony to his character* Pilate, the 
Roman governor, proclaimed to all the world upon the cross, 
" This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews," 
intimating thereby, through the over-ruling providence of 
God, that Jesus was the person who had acted as king of 
Israel all through the Mosaic dispensation. 

137. Nor is the confession of the Heathen Centurion, 
when struck with amazement at the wonderful transaction of 
the crucifixion, to be disregarded : — " Now when the Cen- 
turion, and they that were with him watching Jesus, saw the 
earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared 
greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.f 

138. But what is still more remarkable than either the 
testimony of Pilate or the Centurion, is, that even the devits 
bore testimony to the divinity of our Saviour's character. 
<c For when he was come into the country of the Gergesenes 
there met him two possessed with devils, and they cried out, 
saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of 
God f Art thou come hither to torment us before the time ? 
Mat. 8. 28, 29. 

139. And unclean spirits when they saw him, fell down 
before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God. 
And he strictly charged them, that they should not make 
him known." Mark 3. 1 1, 12. 

1 40. " And devils also came out of many, crying out, 
and saying, Thou art Christ, the Son of God. And he, re- 
buking them, suffered them not to speak 5 for they knew 
that he was Christ." Luke. 4. 41. 

* Fidde's Theologia Speeulativa, vol, 1, p. 412, f Mat. 27. 54> 



skct. 1. 2 esti monies during his abode upon Earth, 163 

141. There is another testimony to the character of Jesus 
still higher than any of the former, which ought hy no means 
to be passed over in silence. For the God of heaven, his 
eternal Father, more than once bore witness from the clouds 
to the divinity of his Son. — "And Jesus, when he was bap- 
tized, went up straightway out of the water : and, lo, the 
heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God 
descending like a dove, and lighting upon him : and, lo, a 
voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom 
I am well pleased." Mat. 5. 16, 17. 

142. " While Peter yet spake, behold, a bright cloud 
overshadowed them $ and behold a voice out of the cloud, 
which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased ; hear ye him. 5 ' Mat. 17. 5. In both these r places, 
and on both these occasions, it is not improbable but the Di- 
vine voice had an allusion to various parts of the Old Testa- 
ment, and particularly to these words of the evangelical 
Prophet : — " Behold, my servant whom I uphold, mine elect 
in whom my soul delighteth ; I have put my Spirit upon 
him; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." Isa. 
42. 1. Comp. Mat. 12. 18. 

143. * I will add here one more attestation to the super- 
human, and super-angelical character of the Saviour of the 
world ; and that is the attestation of the incredulous Thomas : 
" And, after eight days again, his disciples were within, and 
Thomas with them : then came Jesus, the doors being shur 5 
and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then 
saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my 
hands ; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my 
side ; and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas 
answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God ! * 
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, 
thou hast believed ; blessed are they that have not seen, and 
yet have believed." John 20. 26. — 29.f A learned and able 
defender of the divinity of Christ hath represented this address 
of Thomas in the following striking manner : — " It was a 
very surprising thing, that Jesus, when he appeared to Tho- 

* St. Cyprian uses nearly the same expression : " We should laboitr 
with all our industry and application to gain the favour of Christ the Judge 
ftothour Lord and our God." Epist, 60, 

f See Whitby on the place, 

M 2 



164 PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS, 



PART III, 



mas, after his resurrection, should suffer him to cry out, My 
Lord and my God ! without saying a word to him about 
the impiety and blasphemy of an exclamation, which treats 
the creature as if he were the Creator. Thomas, before, was 
an unbeliever ; now he is an idolater. Till that instant be 
would not believe that Jesus was risen ; he considered him 
as a man lying under the power of death ; but now, on a 
suddeny he addresses him as God ; he bows and adores. Of 
the two extremes, the latter is most commendable; for unbe- 
lief is not so criminal as idolatry. That dishonours Jesus 
Christ ; this usurps the throne of God. Better lor Thomas, 
therefore, to have perished in his unbelief, than, by renoun- 
cing it, to fall into idolatry. And yet, strange indeed ! 
strange to astonishment ; who can account for it > Jesus 
upbraids him only with the former ; not at all with the latter.f 
Another learned Author observes upon this profession of 
Thomas : — " After Christ was risen, when he was pleased to 
satisfy St. Thomas's scruples about the truth of his resurrec- 
tion, Thomas, being convinced, answered and said unto him, 
My Lord and my God. This his confession of faith our 
Saviour accepted and approved of — Jesus saith unto him — 
Thomas, because thou hast seen me thou hast believed. But 
if he had not been really God, he would surely rather have 
corrected his Apostle, than accepted of his confession."! For 
a fuller vindication of this text, see Bishop Pearson on the 
Creed, art. p. 131. 

Dr. Clarke thus paraphrases the text r — " Thou art 
indeed my Lord, the same that was crucified ; and I acknow- 
ledge thy Almighty power in having triumphed over death, 
and adore thee as my God." — Thus too Dr. Hammond : — "I 
acknowledge that thou art my very Lord and Master, and 
that is an evidence that than art the omnipotent God of 
heaven." 

If Jesus were but a mere man, he ought to have reproved 
Thomas for such an address. The Apostles did so upon 
similar occasions, and so did even the Angels themselves, 
when their characters were misunderstood by their adorers. 
But we never find that our Saviour rejected any adoration, or 
ascriptions of honour that w r ere given to him by persons who 

* See Whitby on the place, t See Abbadie on the Divinity of Christ, 
by Booth, p. 24. $ See Randolph's Vindication, part 2. « 



sect. 1. Testimonies during his abode upon Earth, 165 

rightly apprehended his pretensions. He was therefore eithe 
more than man, or with an ill grace it was that he could say, 
" Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek 
and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls j" 
and claim to himself the exalted honour of being " The faith- 
ful and true witness." 

M 3 



PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. 



PART II 



PART THIRD 



SECTION IL 



THE TESTIMONY OF CHRIST HIMSELF, CONCERNING HIS 
OWN PERSON AND CHARACTER. 



Jesus taught the doctrine of his proper Deity. — Opinio 
ons of Randolph and Burnet — How Dr. Priestly 
gets rid o f difficulties connected with the incarnation. — 
Jesus frequently asserts that he came from Hea- 
ven. — Quotations from Clarke — Taylor — Ter- 
tullian—Novatian, Sfc. — Prior and eternal existence 
of Jesus. — Various testimonies. — The Jews understood 

Jesus as asserting his Deity and pre-existence. 

Miscellaneous Declarations of Jesus concerning 
himself. — His union arid equality with the Father. 
Concurring opinions of learned men. 

Let us next attend to what Jesus himself spake at differ- 
ent times, and upon various occasions, concerning his own 
dignity. He was, indeed, very sparing of self-commenda- 
tion, and seemed rarely to discover his pretensions to the 
world, except closely pressed so to do by some or other of 
his adversaries.* And the reason he gives for his conduct 

* tl We must confess that our Lord has not so plainly and positively 
delivered this doctrine of his divinity, as afterwards his Apostles did. His 
enemies sought all opportunities to lay hold of his words, while the people, 
and his own disciples, were ready on the least encouragement to proclaim 
feim their king. On both these accounts he found himself obliged to speak 
and act with great caution and reserve. We scarcely ever findhim in express 



SECT. 2. 



His own Testimony. 



167 



in this respect, is perfectly consistent with the general tenor 
of all the former divine dispensations. " I have many things 
to say unto you," my disciples, said he a little before his 
death, " but ye cannot bear them now," while I am with 
you in this low disguise. Your minds are not yet sufficiently 
prepared. " Nevertheless, when he, the Spirit of truth, is 
come, he will guide you into all truth. He shall glorify 
me ; for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you." 
John. 16. 12 — 14, All this plainly implies that there was 
something in the character of Jesus with which his disciples 
\vere at that time not fully acquainted, and with which they 
should continue to be unacquainted till after the effusion of 
the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost. It is therefore 
in the writings of the Apostles, after that time, that we are to 
look for a full manifestation of the character of Jesus and the 
doctrines of the gospel. All former dispensations were in- 
creasingly clear, and preparatory to this. But the dispensa- 
tion of the Spirit, after the ascension of our Lord into hea- 
ven, was to be the last and most satisfactory of all. These 
things being premised, we will now produce a number of our 
Lord's own declarations respecting his person, character, and 
mission. 

144. He was the promised and long-expected Messiah. 
This he avowed upon several occasions. Wewillonly mention 
two : the one, his conversation with the woman of Samaria, 
and theothervvith the blind man whom he had restored to siffht. 
*1 know," says the former, "that Messiah cometh which is called 

and positive terms declaring himself the Christ, though the whole tenor of 
his lite and doctrine gave strong intimations of this truth, la like manner 
and for the same reason, we shall find his divinity rather strongly intimated 
than expressly taught." Randolph's Vindication, p. 2. p. 37* 

The learned Dr. Burnet is of the same opinion. I do not remember, 
says he, that Christ openly says in the gospel, that he is God ; but Thomas 
the Apostle made use of that name in the hearing of Christ without repre- 
hension, John 20. 28. And the Jews seem to have understood the words of 
Christ in that manner, John 5. 18. aud 10. 30, Sic, And Christ himself in- 
stituted a new form of baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit, Mat. 28. 19. and commanded that all should honour the Son as they 
honour the Father, John 5. 23. and said that all things which the Father 
hath are his, 16. 15. Wherefore, if there be no crime in so saying, Christ 
spake too presumptuously of himself, and heard others to speak so likewise, 
if he knew himself, in the mean time, to be no more but a mere man; and 
permitted the error of others without correction." De Fide et Oificiis, 
p. 119. ' - 



168 PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS.. PART III. 

Christ : when he is come he will tell us all things. Jesus 
saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he." Dost thou be- 
lieve on the Son of God ? said Jesus to the latter. "He an- 
swered and said, Who is he. Lord, that I might believe on 
him ? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, 
and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I 
believe. And he ivor shipped him" John 9. 85 — 37- 

He existed before he was born of the virgin Mary.* 
Notwithstanding the difficulty of conceiving how this could 
be, I cannot see how any person can reasonably doubt of it, 
who is disposed to give the least credit to his own declara- 
tions. Indeed, 

" I know the learned can with ease, 

" Twist words and meanings as they please : 

But to plain, honest men, I believe, the following clear 
testimonies from the mouth of him who cannot lie, and who 
never deceived or misled mankind, will be abundantly 
satisfactory. 

145.* No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that 
came down from heaven , even the Son of maw, which is in 
heaven. John 3. 13. Nothing can be more unreasonable 
and groundlesss than the Socinian interpretation of this 
passage ; that Christ was taken up into heaven, as Mo- 
ses of old into the mount, to receive his instructions ] 
and then came down again to preach. Whereas the plain 
meaning is, that he was in the beginning with God, before he 
was made flesh, and came into the world."f 

* Both the orthodox scheme, which supposes that Christ was God be- 
fore he was born of the Virgin ; and the Arian scheme, which supposes that 
he was a glorious Being, superior to the angels before he took on him hu- 
man nature ; and the high Socinian hypothesis, which considers Christ as 
begotten in a supernatural manner by the Holy Ghost ; are encumbered 
with difficulties inscrutable by the highest powers of human reason. Dr. 
Priestly, therefore, to rid himself of all these encumbcrances, at once 
rejects all the above scheme as equally improbable, and supposes that 
Christ was begotten of Joseph and the Virgin, so called, according to the 
common course of procreation, Thus, in order to get clear of one difficulty 
he involves himself in many, For if Christ did not exist before he was 
born into the world, in some capacity or other, the whole Bible is only 
calculated to mislead and deceive. The following passages will bear witness 
to this declaration. 

t Clarke on the Trinity, p. 84, 



SECT. II. 



His own Testimony, 



169, 



"As he is God, his throne is in the heavens, and he fills all 
things by- his immensity : as he is man, lie is circumscribed 
by an uneasy cradle, and cries in a stable. As he is God, he 
is seated upon a super-exulted throne : as man, exposed to 
the lowest estate of uneasiness and need. As God, clothed 
in a robe of glory, at the same instant when you may behold 
and wonder at his humanity wrapped in cheap and unworthy 
cradle-bands. As God, he is encircled with millions of 
angels ; as man, in the company of beasts. As God, he is 
the eternal Word of the Father eternal, sustained by himself, 
all-sufficient, and without need : and yet he submitted him- 
self to a condition imperfect, inglorious, indigent and neces- 
sitous."* 

Tertullian writes to the same purpose : — " You have the 
Son on earth, you have the Father in heaven. It is not a 
separation, but a divine disposition. Yet you ought to know 
that God is also within the abysses, and exists every where ; 
but it is by his might and power ; and likewise that the Son 
is every where with him, as not divided from him. In the 
dispensation^ however, the Father would have the Son to 
dwell on earth, and himself in heaven."f 

I4f>. : * Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you 
not that bread from heaven ; but my Father giveth you the 
true bread from heaven. For the Bread of heaven is he 
ivhich come th down from heaven, and giveth life unto the 
world. — For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own 
will, but the will of him that sent'me. — The Jews then mur- 
* mured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came 
down from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus the son 
of Joseph, whose father and mother we know ? How is it 
then that he saith, I came down from heaven f Not that 
any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he 
hath seen the Father. — This is the Bread ivhich comet h 
down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. 
I am the living bread which came down from heaven. — This 
Is that bread ivhich came down from heaven. What, and 
if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was be^ 
fore f" John 6\ 32 

Novatian, quoting the words, Ye know not whence I 
came, nor whither I go, proceeds, "Behold here," says he,, 
* Bishop Taylor's Life of Christ, p. 13. t Adv. Prax. c. 2$, 



1/0 PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS, PART II I. 

" that he will return thither, whence he declares he came he- 
fore. He was sent from heaven. He descended then whence 
he came, as he goes thither, whence he descended. Where- 
fore, if Christ had only been a man, he had not come thence; 
but by coming from whence man cannot come, he showed 
himself to have been God who came. — As man could not 
come from heaven, so as to challenge a return thither, he 
must be God, who descended thence, whence man could 
not come."* 

Dr. Price says — " The Jews understood our Lord's ex^ 
pression to be an intimation, that he had existed in heaven 
before he came into this world, and therefore murmured at 
him, and said, Is not this Jesus the Son of Joseph, whose 
father and mother we know f How is it then that he saith, 
I came down from heaven ? There is in this case," con- 
tinues the Doctor, " a presumption, that the sense in which 
the Jews understood our Lord, was the most obvious and 
natural sense. If, however, it was not, and the Jews perversely 
misinterpreted his words, it was reasonable to expect, that 
he would have said something to correct their mistake. But 
instead of this, we find, that, in his reply, he repeated the 
same declaration in stronger language, and intimated that 
they understood him rightly ; Does this offend you f What 
and if shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was 
before f f 

The same gentleman saith again : " I must think this 
text as decisive a declaration of Christ's pre-existence by 
himself as words can well express." 

Another able writer observes upon this subject ; "Whe- 
ther our Saviour had an existence in heaven with God the 
Father before his incarnation, I think one may safely rest 
the decision of this question with a Turk or an Indian, or any 
other plain, honest, upright person in the world, who could 
read our new Testament."! 

147. * And Jesus said unto the Jews, "Ye are from 
beneath ; / am from above. Ye are of this world ; / am 
not of this worlds John 8. 23. 

148. * " I speak that which I have seen with my Fa- 
tter." John 8. 38. 

* De Trinit. Cap, 23. t Sermons, p. 132. J Havwood's Sociniai 
Scheme, p . 13. 



SECT. 2. 



His own Testimony. 



171 



149. * Jesus said unto the Jews, If God were your 
Father, ye would love me ; for I proceeded forth, and came 
from God ; neither came I of myself, but he sent me." John 
8. 42. 

150. * Jesus knowing that the Father had given all 
things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and 
went to God. John 13. 3. 

151. * " All things that I have heard of my Father, I 
have made known unto you." John 15. 15. 

152. * These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs, 
but the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you 
in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. At 
that day ye shall ask in my name ; and I say not unto you, 
that I will pray the Father for you : for the Father himself 
loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that 
I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and 
am come into the world : again, I leave the world and go to 
the Father. His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest 
thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure, 
that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man 
should ask thee; by this we believe that thou earnest forth 
from God. John 16. 25—30 

From these words it is most evident that our Saviour's dis- 
ciples understood him as declaring, that he came down from 
heaven into the world. It was equally clear he did not en- 
deavour to correct their wrong apprehensions, which, one 
should naturally suppose, he would and ought to have done, 
if they had really misunderstood his meaning. It follows, 
therefore, as justly and forcibly as any conclusion in dialectics 
well can do, that the disciples understood their Lord and 
Master in a proper manner, and that he actually was in 
heaven before he was born of the Virgin, and came down 
from thence for the salvation of the world. 

" The argument in favour of our Lord's pre-existence is 
exceedingly strengthened from the consideration of the very 
familiar manner in which Christ occasionally speaks of the 
glories of heaven. The difference between our Lord and 
his apostles, even after their inspiration, in this particular is 
very observable. They seem to be lost in the contemplation 
whenever they have occasion to describe the heavenly state, 
and appear to be oppressed with the weight of the subject $ 



1/2 PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. PART III. 

but with Jesus nothing can seem to be more natural and 
familiar. It is like a prince, says Doddridge, who having 
been educated in a splendid court, could speak with ease of 
many magnificent things, at the sudden view of which a 
peasant would be swallowed up in astonishment, and would 
find himself greatly embarrassed in an attempt to explain 
them to his equals at home. Whoever compares the plain re- 
presentation which our blessed Lord hath given of heaven, with 
the laboured expressions of the Apostles upon this subject, 
will be struck with the justness of this observation, and no 
inconsiderable argument will arise there from, of our Lord's 
pre-existence in glory."* 

Cannot one know (says another excellent writer, tho- 
roughly conversant with these subjects) that the Socinian 
interpretation of John 1. 1. and Heb. 1. 10. or of the texts 
relating to Christ's pre-existence, is not the mind of scrip- 
ture ? Yea, one may know it as certainly, as that a counter 
is not the king's coin, or that a monster is not a man. 

153.f " And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine 
own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the 
world ivas. John 17. 1. 

" The Socinians interpretation of this passage is too 
much forced ; who understand it to signify only the glory 
which Christ had in the foreknowledge and predetermination 
ofGod/'t 

Dr. Harwood says of this scripture, " Were there no 
intimation in the whole New Testament of the pre-existence 
of Christ, this single passage would irrefragably demonstrate 
and establish it. Our Saviour, here in a solemn act of devo- 
tion, declares to the Almighty* that he had glory with him 
before the world was, and fervently supplicates that he would 
be graciously pleased to reinstate him in his former felicity. 
The language is plain and clear. Every word hath great 
moment and emphasis . — Glorify thou me with that glory 
which I enjoyed in thy presence, and near thy person, he- 
fore the world was. Upon this single text I lay my finger. 
Here I posit my system. f 

* Hawker's Sermons, p. 44. 45. % Clarke on the Trinity, p, 103. § Of 
the Socinian Scheme, p. 47. 



SECT. 2. 



His own Testimony, 



173 



154. * Again : — " I have given unto them the words which 
thou gavest me ; and they have received them, and have 
known surely that I came out from thee, and they have be- 
lieved that thou didst send me." John 17« 8. 

155. * And again: — " Father, I will that they also be 
with me where I am ; that they may behold my glory, which 
thou hast given me ; for thou lovedst me before the founda- 
tion of the ivorld." John 17- 24. 

To my apprehension nothing can be clearer from all 
these passages, than that our Redeemer meant to assert his 
own pre-existence. Great art and perversion must be used 
to make them speak a different language. Nay, many of our 
Socinians are so sensible of this, that they are obliged to 
suppose, by way of getting clear of them as adroitly as may 
be, that Jesus was taken up into heaven before he entered 
on his public ministry, and instructed in what he was to do, 
and what he was to say !* But the reader will observe^ this 
is making scripture, and not interpreting it. And, if we are 
allowed to take such liberties with the word of God, there is 
an end of all certainty. It shall be any thing or nothing just 
as it pleases our fancy. I conclude, therefore, upon true 
scriptural principles, that Jesus Christ did really and pro- 
perly pre-exist, and consequently, that the Socinian scheme 
is subverted root and branch, and can never be established, 
but upon the ruin of scripture, and all just and authentic 
interpretation. The Fathers are unanimous in this doctrine : 
— " The Son of God," says Hermas, " is more ancient than 
all creatures, insomuch that he was present in consult witk 
his Father at the making of the creature."* 

"Who was with the Father," says Ignatius, "before all 
ages, and appeared at the end of the world."! Justin Mar- 
tyr to the same purpose : — But the Son of the Father, even 
he who alone is properly called his Son, the Word which 
was with him before the creation, because by him he in the 
beginning made and disposed all things &c."§ And 
again : " But this Being, who was really begotten of the 
Father, and proceeded from him, did before all creatures 
were made, exist with the Father, and the Father conversed 
with him."|| 

* Pastor, Sim, 9. % Epist, ad Meg. sect, 6. $ ApoJ. 1, IJDialog. cum 
Trypln 



174 PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS PART IH. 

156'.* The conversation which our Lord Jesus held with his 
countrymen, where he declares himself to have been prior to 
Abraham the father of the faithful, is very remarkable. " Your 
father Abraham," says he, " rejoiced to see my day, and he 
saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art 
not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said 
unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham 
was, I am.* Then took they up stones to cast at him ; but 
Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through 
the midst of them, and so passed by.' , John 8. 56'— 59, 
The Socinian interpretation of this passage is very languid 
and unnatural ; that Christ was before Abraham in the fore- 
knowledge and appointment of God. The plain meaning is, 
that he was really with God in the beginning, and before the 
world was. John 1.1. and 17. 5. 

" Many expositors, from our Saviour's using in this pas- 
sage the words, / am, instead of, I ivas, (though the like 
manner of speaking is found also in other places of this 
gospel: as ch. 14. 9) conclude that he here refers to his own 
peculiar manner of existence. And indeed, that possibly he 
might hereby intend to insinuate his derivation of being from 
the Father, to have been in a singular manner, incomprehen- 
sible and unrevealed ; and that he was that person in whom 
the name of God was ; namely, that he was that visible per- 
son, who in the Old Testament appeared and was called 
Jehovah, or, I am ; this, I say, cannot indeed positively be 
denied. But to suppose that he here describes himself to be 
absolutely, the self-existing being or person (o wv, or to ov) this 
is downrigbt Sabellianism, and directly contrary to the whole 
tenor of scripture." 

Bishop Sherlock has done it more justice. Our blessed 
Saviour claims to himself that awful name I AM, which be- 
longs only to the Supreme Being : Before Abraham teas, 
I AM. Had our Saviour only said, Before Abraham teas, 
1 was ; thus much at least would have been the consequence, 
that he had an existence before Abraham : but now that he 
says, Before Abraham tuas, I AM ; something more is im- 
plied i something that peculiarly belongs to the expression I 
AM, and what that is, we may learn from the original use of 
the words. They are the words which God made choice of 



* See Stillingfleetou the Trinity, p. 133, &c. 



SECT. 2. 



His own Testimony. 



to express his own eternity and power, when Moses inquired 
after the name of God: he answered him, I AM THAT I 
AM. Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel, I AM 
hath sent me unto you. Ex. 3. 14. What now could tempt 
our Saviour to use and apply this expression to himself? He 
knew that it never had heen applied to any but God, and 
would have been in the man so applying it, in the highest 
degree, committing the robbery or making himself equal 
with God. Besides, according to analogy of language, the 
words, without this construction, express nothing: no idea 
belongs to them ; for a man cannot in his mind carry the 
present time back, and make it antecedant to the time already 
past ; and therefore to say, Before a thing was, I AM, is 
shuffling ideas together, which can have no place in the un- 
derstanding, If, therefore, you admit the expression to have 
any meaning, you must allow the I AM to belong to Christ, 
in its proper and peculiar use, as signifying eternity, and per- 
manency of duration."* 

Dr. Harwood says, This plain declaration of our Sa- 
viour, will, I think, forever stand in full force against all 
the acumen of criticism, and sagacity of refinement which 
may be employed to invalidate and explain away its natural 
and obvious signification.^: 

Novatian observes upon this passage, If Christ be only 
a man, how does he say, Before Abraham, I AM ? He 
either therefore speaks falsely and deceives, if he was not be- 
fore Abraham, who was from Abraham. Or he doth not de- 
ceive, if he is also God, while he was before Abraham, 
Cap. 23. 26. 

Dr. Price remarks upon this scripture, that it is a cir- 
cumstance of some consequence, that the words were occa- 
sioned by an offence which Jesus had given the Jews by an 
expression which they thought implied, that he had existed 
in the days of Abraham. § 

It is evident from the context, that the Jews understood 
our Saviour as asserting his own divinity, or at least his ow r n. 

* Discourse 1st. vol.4, t Of the Socinian Scheme, p. 40. 

t Let the Reader consult the 44th of Tillotson's Sermons \ Dr. Whitby 
on the passage, who has ably vindicated it from the perversions of the Sq* 
cinians ; and Whitaker's Origin of Arianism Disclosed, p. £6— >39» 
§ See his Sermon*, p, 133. 



176 



PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. PART III. 



pre-existence; for they immediately took up stones to cast at 
him. And he, without making the smallest apology for what 
he had said, or attempting in the least to explain himself in any 
other sense, exerted his supernatural power, and escaped 
out of their hands, leaving them in full possession of the 
opinion they had formed concerning him. u It is plain that 
our Saviour's audience, says Dr. Harwood, took these words 
in their natural acceptation : for upon his asserting- to them, 
that he was in being before their great ancestor, they were 
instantly transported into the last excesses of fury against 
him as a blasphemer and imposter, and took up stones with 
a design to murder him. These actual violences of the Jews 
prove, I apprehend, better than a thousand inane and chime- 
rical theories, how our Redeemer was understood, andintended 
to be understood."* 

Two other passages of the New Testament, spoken by 
our Saviour himself, are of similar import. Nor can they be 
fairly interpreted, but upon the supposition of the pre- 
existence of the Son of God. We may indeed deny the 
truth of any proposition, warp it to any meaning we please, 
and even assert that black is white, but men whose minds are 
honest and simple dare not do so. They conceive not that 
they have any right to form their religious system as they 
please, but are bound to receive that which God hath thought 
proper to reveal. — But to the passages in question : — 

157-* " While the Pharisees were gathered together 
Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ ? whose 
Son is he ? They say unto him, The Son of David. He 
saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him 
Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my 
right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool ? If 
David then call him Lord, how is he his Son ? Mat. 22. 
41 — 45. 

Let any man of a plain, common understanding read this 
passage as it stands in the New Testament, and then deter- 
mine for himself ; will it not instantly strike him, that our 
blessed Lord meant to infer, that something above the nature 
of a human being was appointed to distinguish the charac- 
ter of the Messiah ? that, notwithstanding Christ, according 

* Of the Socinian Scheme, p. 4t a 



SECT. 2. 



Mis own Testimony. 



177 



to the flesh, was to spring from the seed of David, yet, at the 
same time, he was to be David's Lord ? That our Saviour's 
argument was considered in this light by his hearers, and 
that it wrought a conviction of this kind upon their minds, 
seems highly probable ; for the Evangelist adds, They were 
not able to ansiuer him a word, neither durst any man, 
from that day forth, ask him anymore questions."* 

157. The other scripture to which I referred is in the 
book of Revelation : "lam the root and the offspring of 
David, and the bright and morning star." Rev. 22. 16. 

If all these passages taken together, and considered as 
explanatory one of another, prove not the pre-existence of 
the Son of God, I confess myself incompetent to judge of 
the nature of any evidence whatever. 

"Some of these passages, when detached from their 
proper places in Scripture, or from each other, may appear, 
perhaps, susceptible of other meanings : but when compared 
with each other, and especially with the passages, in which 
Christ asserts his divinity, they carry only one meaning, the 
pre-existence of Christ, and the union in him of the divine 
and human nature."f 

We now pass on to various other declarations of the Son 
of God concerning himself, which convey sentiments utterly 
inconsistent with every idea of his being but a mere human 
creature. 

158. " All things are delivered unto me of my Father ; 
and no man knoweth the Son hut the Father ; neither 
knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whom- 
soever the Son will reveal him." Mat. ii. 27. — These words 
evidently declare, as Dr. Doddridge justly observes, that 
there is something inexplicably mysterious in the nature and 
person of Jesus. If Christ was no more than a mere man, 
how do these words consist with the following declaration, I 
am meek and lowly in heart ? 

" The Father of our Lord Jesus," saith Irenseus, " mani- 
fests and reveals himself to all, whom he is at all revealed to, 
by his Word who is his Son. For they know the Father, to 
whomsoever the Son will reveal him, Now the Son, co~ 

*" Hawker's sermons, p, 19. t Burgess's sermon on the Divinity of 
Christ, p. 14. 



178 PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. PART fffl 

existing always with the Father, reveals the Father of old, 
even always from the beginning, to angels and archangels, 
and powers and dominions, and to men, whom God thinks fit 
to reveal himself to."* 

Mr. Burgess in his late excellent Sermon before the 
University of Oxford, on the Divinity of Christ, observes on 
this passage of holy scripture, that, " when our Saviour 
addressed these words to the Jews, who were present with 
him, and before whom he had been accustomed to call God 
his Father, and himself the Son, he must have referred to 
some invisible nature distinct from his human person. It is 
clear from our Saviour's words, that the Father and the Son 
were equally unknown to mankind, and consequently, that 
the Son in his invisible and human nature, was equally divine 
with the Father."J 

159. 66 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the 
Father." John 10. 15. What strange, arrogant language 
would this he, upon the supposition that he was no more 
than a mere man ? Instead of being a teacher come from 
God to instruct mankind in the divine will, he might rather, 
in that case, be considered as a blasphemer and vain-glorious 
boaster. 

a When thou nearest the title Father," saith Ruffinus, 
u understand that he hath a Son, who is the image of his 
substance ; for, as no man is called a lord, unless he hath a 
servant or a possession, which he lords it over ; and no man 
is called a master, except he hath a scholar : so no one can 
in any manner be called a father, unless he hath a son. By 
this name, therefore, by which God is called a Father, the 
Son is also demonstrated to subsist likewise with him."§ 

160* "What thinkest thou, Simon? Of whom do 
the kings of the earth take custom or tribute 1 of their own 
children, or strangers ? Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. 
Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free." Mat. 
17. 25, 26. In this beautiful little piece of history our Sa- 
viour seems to insinuate, that, because he himself, was the 
Son of the great King, to whom heaven, earth, and sea^ 
with all things in them belong, he was not obliged to pay 
tribute, as holding any thing by a derived right from any 
king whatever. As a mere man he could have had no just 

* Lib. 2. cap. 55. % PagelS. § Exposit. in Syrab. sect- 4- 



SECT. 2. 



His own Testimony. 



1/9 



pretence to any such exemption. The whole force of the 
passage consists in, or depends upon, our Lord's being the 
true, proper, and natural Son of God, and is illustrative and 
confirmative of all those scriptures which speak of God as 
the " Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." 

161. "The Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath-day" 
Mat. 12. 8.* Does not this declaration carry us back to the 
original institution of the sabbath ? And does it seem decent 
for a mere man to make use of language like this ? There is 
an arrogance in such a pretension infinitely unsuitable to the 
character of simple humanity. 

162. "If two of you shall agree on earth as touching 
any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my 
Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are ga- 
thered together in my name ; there am I in the midst of 
them. Mat. 18. 19, 29. This passage is spoken by our 
Lord Jesus Christ himself ; and I appeal to the reader 
whether or not it contains sentiments proper for a mere man. 
The person whose language it is, evidently claims the two 
divine attributes of ONNIPRESENCE and OMNISCI- 
ENCE. 

Novatian saith, If Christ were only a man, how is he 
present wheresoever he is called upon, since this is not the 
nature of man, but of God, that he can be present in every 
place f. 

163. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only- 
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not 
perish, but have everlasting life." John 3. 16. Where was 
the extraordinary love of God to the world, if Jesus was no- 
thing more than a mere man ? Upon the supposition, that 
he was of an higher order, and God's own proper Son, all is 
natural and easy. On any other principle, one of the finest 
and most important passages of the whole Bible, is rendered 
absurd and ridiculous. 

" It is certain that the love of God towards us is greatly 
exalted in that he sent his only-begotten Son into the world, 
and gave him up to the death of the cross, to save sinners, 
the children of wrath. But if the Son ol God denotes no 
more than Jesus born of the virgin, we cannot see so clearly 
why this love should be so greatly extolled, as if it denotes 

* See Whitby on Mat. 12. 2. t Chap, 14, 

N 2 



180 PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. PART III 

the Son, whom he begat before ages. For the Son, born of 
the virgin, was therefore born of her, that he might die for 
sinners. Now, where was the extraordinary love of God, 
in giving up that Son to death, who was begotten of the 
virgin; by his pleasure, and conceived of the Holy Spirit 
for that purpose ? But if you conceive it to be the Son of 
God, who was begotten of the Father before ages, who was 
under no necessity of being sent into the world, whose 
dignity was greater than that he should be sent, or come in 
the flesh, much less die, who seemed dearer to the Father, 
than that he should force him upon so much calamity ; then, 
indeed, the splendour and glory of the Divine love towards 
mankind shines forth greatly 

164. * When our Saviour was only twelve years of age, 
he claimed kindered with heaven in a very peculiar sense, 
by saying to his human parents, " Wist ye not that I must 
be about my Father's business?" — Or, as it ought rather) 
perhaps, to be translated, " Wist ye not that I must be in 
my Father's house?" Does not our Lord by this interroga- 
tion, under such circumstances, indirectly declare, that 
Joseph was not his natural and proper father? Luke 2. 49. 

165. "I am not alone ; but I and the Father that sent 
me." John 8. 16. 

166. " 1 am one that bear witness of myself, and the 
Father that sent me beareth witness of me. Then said 
they unto him, Where is thy Father ? Jesus answered, Ye 
neither know me nor my Father : if ye had known me, y© 
should have known my Father also." John 8. 18, 19. 

167. "As my Father hath taught me, I speak these 
things. — The Father hath not left me alone." John 8. 
28, 29. 

168. * " The servant abideth not in the house forever ; 
but the So7i abideth ever. If the Son, therefore, shall 
make you free, ye shall be free indeed." John 8. 35, 36. 
This shews that Christ is the natural and proper Son of 
God. Comp. Mat. 17. 24—27. 

169. " 1 speak that which I have seen with my Father " 
John 8. 38. 

170. " I honour my Father." John 8. 49. 

171. "It is my Father that honoureth me." John 8. 54. 



* Episcopius, vol. 1. p. 337. 



SECT. 2. 



His own Testimony, 



181 



172. " Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that 
thy Son also may glorify thee." John If . I. 

173. " And now, O Father, glorify thou me." John 
17.5. 

174. " Holy Father, keep through thine own name 
those whom thou hast given me." John 17. 11*. 

175. "That they all may be one, as thou Father, art 
in me, and I in thee." John 17. 21. 

176. " Father, I will that they also whom thou hast 
given me, be with me where I am." John 17- 24. 

177. " O righteous Father, the world hath not known 
thee." John 17. 25. 

178. " Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my 
Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve 
legions of angels ?" Mat. 26'. 53. 

179. "And, behold, I send the promise of my Father 
upon you." Luke 24. 49. 

180. " Take these things hence; make not my Father's 
house, an house of merchandise/' John 2. 16. 

In all these cases, where Christ so familiarly calls God 
his Father, there seems to be ah allusion to his true and 
proper sonship. To hear him speak in such a style, and to 
suppose no more is meant by it, than that he was peculiarly 
beloved of God, seems by no means to satisfy that expecta- 
tion which arises from the frequent repetition of such ex- 
pressions as these, under such circumstances. 

There is a little work published in the nineteenth 
volume of the late Rev. John Wesley's Works, translated 
from the French, and entitled, A Treatise concerning the 
Godhead of Jesus Christ, which deserves the attention of 
all those who reject that doctrine. The several propositions 
contained in the treatise are these : — 1. If Jesus Christ is 
not of the same essence with the Father, the Christianity 
which we profess is the corruption of the Christian religion, 
and Mahometanism the re-establishment of it. 2. If Jesus 
Christ is not of the same essence with the Father, we must 
regard Mahomet as sent of God. 3. If Jesus Christ is not 
of one essence with the Father, Mahomet is a great pro- 
phet, the greatest of the prophets, and even preferable in 
all respects to Jesus Christ. 4. If Jesus Christ is not of the 
same essence with the Father, Mahomet was more true, 
more wise, more charitable, and more zealous for the glory 

N 3 



182 



PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. 



PART III, 



of God than he. 5. That Jesus Christ takes the name of 
God. 6. That his disciples ascribe to Jesus Christ all the 
principal titles, which in the writings of the prophets form 
the idea of the supreme God, and essentially distinguish him 
from all creatures. 7« That the apostles make Jesus Christ 
equal with God. 8. That Jesus Christ required and re- 
ceived adoration. 9. That those passages in the Old 
Testament, which most incontestably contain the characters 
of the supreme God, are applied in the New to Jesus 
Christ *. 

181. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will 
raise it up." John 2. 19. See Acts 2. 24. 

182. If this declaration of our Saviour is compared with 
that other of similar import — " I have power to lay down my 
life, and I have power to take it again/' John 10. 18; it 
will appear that he had an actual existence and possessed 
almighty power at the very time that his body was lying life- 
less in the grave. 

St. Ignatius says, Jesus Christ did truly suffer, so also he 
did truly raise up himself f, 

Origen speaks more at large : — Who, says he, has 
broken the snares of death, save he who alone could not be 
holden of them ? For though he was under the dominion of 
death, it was voluntary, and not by the law of sin as we are. 
It w T as he alone who w 7 as free among the dead. And be- 
cause he was free among the dead, having vanquished him 
who had the power of death, he took away the bondage of 
death ; and not only raised himself from the dead, but at 
the same time raised up those who were detained in death. J 

St. Cyprian expresses the same sentiment : — He dismis- 
sed his spirit of his own accord ; and of his own accord rose 
again on the third day from the dead §. 

183. "Jesus said unto Martha, lam the resurrection 
and the life ; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, 
yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me 
shall never die." John 11, 25, 26. If Jesus had been no 
more than a mere man, such language would have appeared 
haughty and assuming, and scarcely reconciieable with his 
humility and submission to his Father ||. 



♦ See Booth's Abbadie. 

$ Horn, 3. in Cant. Canticorum. 

|| Jortin s Sermons, vol; 6. p. 189. 



t Epist. ad Srayr. 
§ De Vanit. Idol. 



SECT. 2. 



His own Testimony. 



184. " Be not ye called Rabbi ; for one is your Master, 
even Christ ; and all ye are brethren. — Neither be ye called 
Master; for one is your Master even Christ/' Mat. 23. 
8, 10. — These were titles usually bestowed by the Jews on 
their teachers and learned men, with much vain pomp and 
ceremony. Christ only, however, had a right to such dis- 
tinctions. — See Whitby on these verses. 

185. " The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, 
but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." 
Mat. 20. 28, — Here is a plain intimation of that atonement, 
which he was, in due time, to make for the sins of the 
world, and which was more fully and circumstantially re- 
vealed after he had ascended into his .glory. 

186. "If a man love me he will keep my words; and 
my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and 
make our abode with him." John 14. 23. What strange, 
and even imprudent language would this be, upon the sup- 
position that Christ was no more than a mere man ? Read 
it again and again, and see if there be not here an inter- 
community between the Father and the Son by the Spirit 
inconsistent with every idea of simple humanity. 

1§7- ''Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in 
GOD, believe also in ME. In my Father's house are 
many mansions ; if it were not so, I would have told you : 
I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare 
a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto 
myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. And whi- 
ther I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith 
unto him 5 Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how 
can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way. 9 
and the TRUTH, and the LIFE : no man cometh unto 
the Father but by me. If ye had known me, ye should 
have known my Father also : and from henceforth ye know 
liim, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew 
us the Father, and it sufBceth. Jesus saith unto him, Have 
I been so^ong time with you, and yet hast thou not known 
me, Philip ? He that hath seen ME, hath seen the 
FATHER ; and how sayest thou then, shew us the Father ? 
Believest thou not that I am in the FATHER, and the 
FATHER IN ME ? The words that I speak unto you, I 
speak not of myself : but the FATHER that dwelleth in 



184 



PERSONAL CHARACTER OP JESUS 



PART in. 



me, he doth the works. Believe me, that I AM IN THE 
FATH ER, and the FATHER hi me ; or else believe me 
for the very work's sake. — Whatsoever ye shall ask in my 
name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in 
the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do 
it. — He that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, and I 
will love him, and will manifest myself unto him. — I am 
the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. — When 
the COMFORTER is come, whom I will send unto you 
from the FATHER, even the SPIRIT OF TRUTH, 
which proceedeth from the FATHER, he shall testify of 
ME. — It is expedient for you, that I go away : for if I go 
not away, the COMFORTER will not come unto you ; but 
if I depart, I will send him unto you. — When the COM- 
FORTER is come, he shall glorify me : for he shall re- 
ceive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All THINGS 
THAT THE FATHER hath are mine." 

Let the serious reader judge, whether these various de- 
clarations of the Saviour of mankind are consistent with the 
character of simple manhood, however dignified by the 
favour of his Maker. Jesus Christ, I grant, doth not say, 
in any of them, that he is the eternal Son of the eternal 
Father, but he saith many things which would be the 
highest blasphemy in any mere mortal man. Upon the 
supposition that he is the natural and proper Son of God, 
there is a propriety and consistency in the highest of them. 
And he might with the strictest decorum declare, <; All 
things that the Father hath are mine." 

" Is this a style proper, I do not say for any mere man, 
but for the highest, or most perfect of all created beings ? 
Let any Socinian, or Arian tell us, what occasion there was 
for a mere ambassador or agent between God and man, to 
assume so much every where to himself, to lay so much 
stress upon his own personal dignity, to set forth his own 
personal powers and prerogatives, and, upon these grounds 
to demand honour and worship to himself, together with 
the Father. Would it not have been sufficient for him to 
h,ave pressed and inculcated the doctrine of the one God ; 
the necessity of obedience to his laws ; the rewards attend- 
ing it ; and the penalties consequent upon the neglect of 
It w These are strong expressions, but must appear very 



SECT. 2. 



His oivn Testimony. 



185 



strange too, and unaccountable, if the Son were a creature 
only ; or if no more were meant by them than that he was 
a teacher sent from God. If we may believe plain words 
spoken by our blessed Saviour himself, here is a full proof 
of a perfect communication of all things, and of an indivi- 
dual unity of power in the three persons of the ever blessed 
Trinity, as could have been, supposing our principles really 
true *." 

" Observe," saith St. Austin, " that when in the creed 
the name of God the Father is conjoined, it is thereby de- 
clared, that he was not first of alt a God, and afterwards a 
Father ; but without any beginning, he is always both God 
and Father. When thou nearest the word Father, acknow- 
ledge chat he hath a Son truly born, as he is called a pos- 
sessor, who possesseth any thing, and a governor who governs 
any thing : so God the Faiher is a term of a secret mystery, 
whose true Son is the Word f." 

18SV* " And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's 
porch. Then came the Jews round about him, and said 
unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt ? If thou 
be the Christ tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told 
you, and ye believed not. The works that I do in my Fa- 
ther's name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, 
because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My 
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me : 
and I give unto them eternal life ; and they shall never 
perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 
My Father which gave them me is greater than all ; and 
none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I 
AND MY FATHER ARE ONE. Then the Jews took 
up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many 
good works have I shewed you from my Father ; for which 
of those works do ye stone me ? The Jews answered him, 
saying, For a good work we stone thee not ; but for blas- 
phemy, and because that thou, BEING A MAN, MAKEST 
THYSELF GOD. Jesus answered them, It is not writ- 
ten in your law, I said, Ye are Gods ? If he called them 
Gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture 
cannot be broken : say ye of him, whom the Father hath 

* See Fiddes's Theo. Spec. vol. 1. p. 416, 419. 
t Serai, de Temp: Serm. 181. 



186 PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. PART III, 

sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest ; 
because I said, I am the Son of God ? If I do not the works 
of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe 
not me, believe the works ; that ye may know and believe 
that the Father is in me, and I in him. Therefore they 
sought again to take him ; but he escaped out of their 
hands." John. 10. 23—39. 

Some persons are pleased to tell us, that in this passage 
our Lord disclaimed all pretensions to divinity. But it is 
very evident that the Jews, to whom he spake, thought far 
otherwise ; for they charge him directly with blasphemy, 
and making himself equal with God. He quotes the Old 
Testament, and attempts to illustrate his meaning ; but it is 
all so little to their satisfaction, that they were proceeding 
to seize him, when he escaped out of their hands. If he 
had been a mere man, according to his external appearance, 
he had nothing to do but to tell them so, and all would have 
been easy. But as he used such expressions as led them to 
think that he pretended to be EQUAL WITH GOD he 
either was so in reality, or he dealt very disingenuously with 
them. He was to blame ; they were to be pitied. 

See Whitby on the place. — Doddridge hath this observa- 
tion upon the declaration, / and my Father are one : — If 
we attend, not only to the obvious meaning of these words, in 
comparison with other passages of scripture, but to the con- 
nection of this celebrated text, it so plainly demonstrates the 
Deity of our blessed Redeemer, that I think it may be left to 
speak for itself, without any laboured comment. How widely 
different that sense is, in which Christians are said to be one 
with God, John 17. 21, will sufficiently appear, by consider- 
ing, how flagrantly absurd and blasphemous it would be, to 
draw that inference from their union with God, which Christ 
does from his. — Several of the ancient Fathers have quoted 
or alluded to this remarkable saying of our Lord — I and my 
Father are one — and have understood it pretty much in the 
same sense we usually do. Athenagoras says — The Son of 
God is the Word of the Father, in power and energy. By 
him and through him were all things created : for the Father 
and the Son are ONE. The Father is in the Son, and the 
Son is in the Father, by the unity and power of the Spirit : 



SECT. 2. 



His oivn Testimony. 



187 



for the Son of God is the Word and Wisdom of God * Apol. 
p. 10. 

I shall insert here a passage from Bishop Brown's Letter 
against Toland's book on Christianity not mysterious, con- 
cerning the divinity of the Son of God. This letter is 
designed not only as an answer to Toland's book, but to all 
the opposers of revelation and mysteries. His words are 
these : — I am convinced by the completion of prophecies, 
the miracles he wrought, and the agreeaoleness of his doc- 
trine to the natural sentiments of our mind, that whatever 
Jesus Christ was, he came from God. I find him in many 
places assuming the name, and titles, and worship of God. 
In discoursing with the Jews, he useth this form of speech, 
Before Abraham ivas, I AM, on purpose to signify to them, 
that he was that very Divine Being which was revealed to 
Moses under that name. And some time after, he tells them 
that as he was the Son of God, so he and the Father were 
one. That the Je ws understood him in this sense, I am sure, 
because they took up stones at each of these sayings, to 
stone him as a blasphemer, because he made himself equal 
with God. If these expressions were not to be understood 
in the sense they took them, he would certainly have unde- 
ceived them, and made it known, that he was not God in the 
sense they understood him ; but that he was only a God by 
deputation, according to the wild notions of the Socinians. 
But he spake the truth, and the Jews understood him right, 
that he was ( the eternal God, equal with the Father, the very 
same God who was signified by that sacred name I AM. 
And he hath never undeceived either them or us to this day 5 
but instead thereof, hath used many expressions to counte- 
nance and encourage this notion of him ; and therefore if I 
act like a reasonable man, I am under a necessity either of 
giving my assent to this, or of utterly rejecting him as an 
impostor. 

" Now, had he been an imposter, God, who shewed him- 
self always very jealous of his honour, would never have con- 

* See also Tertul, adv. Prax. c 22, 23, and 24. Novat. de Trin. c. 22. 
Basil. Mag. adv. Eunom. 1. 1. and 1. 4. Athan. in Disput. adv. Arium. 
— Greg. Naz. orat. 16 and 49.— St. Chryst. in loco. — Theoph. in loco.— 
Greg. Nyss. adv. Eun. p. 8.— Cyril Hie. in Cat. 11.— Aug. de Trin. 1. 4. 
c. 9, et lib. 5. c. 3. And, in short, Maldonatus on the place says, that all 
the Catholic writers expounded it of the divine essence. 



188 PERSONAL CHARACTER OV JESUS. PART III. 

firmed this doctrine of his with such repeated testimonies. 
If we suppose him to be only a messenger come from God, 
and a mere man, who spake only by his Spirit and commis- 
sion, he would never have used such expressions as must 
naturally be misunderstood, and lead thousands into the 
gross sin of idolatry, which of all others is most detestable to 
God. Moses was never suffered to enter into the land of 
Canaan, for a much lest supieious expression, Num t 20. 10, 
and in the heat of passion too — Must ive bring water out of 
the rock ? Which was a vain glorious insinuation, that they 
wrought that miracle by their own immediate power, and 
proper efficacy. This comes much short of these expressions 
of our Saviour — Destroy this temple, and in three days I 
will raise it again. — I have power to lay down my life, 
and I have power to take it up. — Before Abraham was, I 
AM. And, indeed, that passage concerning Moses seems 
to have been upon record by the special providence of God, 
for this purpose, that it might be a good argument of convic- 
tion to the Jews of the divinity of the Son, since this 
inference was very natural and obvious from it, to wit ; — If 
God was so incensed with Moses for making use of one ex- 
pression, which seemed to encroach upon his prerogative ; 
then how far would he have been from giving testimony of 
much more frequent and greater miracles, to a person, who, 
by many plainer expressions, assumed to himself the full 
power and perfection of the Godhead, if he were not 
really what he gave himself out to be ?— For this 
reason, I say, because I cannot reject him as an impostor, 
therefore I believe this proposition, and confess, the blessed 
Jesus the Son of God to be the eternal God equal with the 
iFather. 

"Now thus far I proceed in this mystery upon the 
strictest rules of reason and evidence, and my faith in this 
proposition is founded upon clear and distinct ideas ; for I 
know clearly whom I mean by Jesus Christ, namely, that 
person who was born of the virgin Mary, and crucified under 
Pontius Pilate ; I have a clear and distinct idea of what it is 
for one thing to be equal to another ; and I apprehend very 
well what is signified by the name of God here, namely, that 
Divine Being, whose necessary existence I infer from that 
clear knowledge I have of his creatures ; and of whose na- 
ture^ though I have not the least notion as it is in itself, yet I 



SECT. 2. 



His own Testimony. 



189 



form the best idea of him I can, by enlarging all the perfec- 
tions that are discernable in the creatures. And I have a 
clear and distinct idea of what it is for one person to be the 
son of another. Thus I understand the meaning of the words, 
nor is there any thing in them contradictory to my reason. 
And, lastly, I have clear and distinct ideas of those miraculous 
proofs to the senses of men • and of those completions of 
prophecies; and the excellency of that doctrine they confirm • 
the agreeableness of it to the common notions of men ; and 
its natural tendency to make men easy, and pleasant, and 
useful to one another. All which raise such an evidence or 
knowledge in my mind of the divinity of his mission, who 
revealed this proposition to me, that I must do violence to 
my reason, if I do not give my assent to it. And thus far it is 
not so properly and strictly a mystery. 

" But when I think of this proposition again, Jesus the 
Son of God, is God equal with the Father • I must own at the 
same time that I give my assent to it, I have no knowledge of 
that eternal generation which I form an improper idea of 
from the procreation of one man from another. Nor have I 
any notion of this wonderful union of the human nature with 
the Divinity. Nor can I in the least imagine wherein this 
equality consists. These, and all other things relating to the 
manner of it, are wholly out of the reach of all my capacities, 
and totally obscured from me. These are the things which 
make it a mystery, and in respect of this part of it, the autho- 
rity or veraeity of God is the only ground of my persuasion ; 
and my Christian faith of this article consists in thus giving 
my assent to the existence of things which I have no notion 
of, when he hath taken care to give me undoubted testimo- 
nies of the revelation's coming from him. And I trust he 
will accept of it, because it is no rash, inconsiderate assent, 
but that I use those powers of knowledge I have, as strictly 
and impartially in this, as I would do in any affair which im- 
mediately concerned my life." 

Dr. Bellamy has represented our Saviour's argument in 
the following manner : — The Jewish kings and rulers were 
types of Christ • and were named gods, and called the chil- 
dren of the Most High ; as the great antitype was the Son 
of God aftd one wk'i his Father. They were shadows • he 
is the substance. They were called gods ,* he is really God, 



190 



PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. PART III. 



So that this is the force of our Saviour's argument : — What 
the types were in name and shadow, that the antitype must 
be in reality and substance ; for the scriptures cannot be 
broken. But these types were gods in name and shadow ; 
therefore the Messiah, who is the antitype, must be God in 
reality and substance. Thus in the Jewish sacrifices there 
was a shadow of substitution, and they were called atone- 
ments ; so in Jesus Christ there was a real substitution, and 
a real atonement. And indeed, the Messiah must be in 
reality all that which the types were in name and shew ; 
otherwise the scripture would not be accomplished and 
verified. 

" If an}, therefore, should say, that as the Jewish kings 
were gods by office, so Christ was only a God by office ; as 
they only had the shadow of divinity; so he only has the 
shadow of divinity : — I answer, Then the scripture is broken : 
the types are not accomplished in the antitype. It is all a 
shadow still. The substance is not come. And the pro- 
phetic prayer, with which the 82d. psalm concludes, is never 
to be answered : — Arise, O God, judge the earth : for 
thou shalt inherit all nations. For it is not a God, but a 
mere creature, that is to have the heathen for his inheritance, 
and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. Ps. 
2. 8. And if his divinity is but a shadow, so is his atone- 
ment. The true atonement is not come. The types are 
not fulfilled. The scripture is broken. And we are yet in 
our sins. For the blood of one mere creature can no more 
make a real atonement than the blood of another mere 
creature. The blood of a bull or a goat, and the blood of a 
mere man, are equally at an infinite remove from any virtue 
to make a proper atonement for sin. All that has been done 
is a mere shadow. There is no substance in it. And so the 
scripture is broken, and the truth of divine revelation in 
general overthrown. For if any one thing, held forth in a 
type or a prophecy, should fail of accomplishment, the truth 
of that whole revelation, in which that type or prophecy is 
contained, would be overthrown. So thus granting the Old 
Testament to be divinely inspired, our Saviour's argument 
amounts to a strict demonstration. 

"The sense the Arians give to the words is this, I and 
my Father are one 9 that is, I and my Father are engaged in 



SECT. 7. 



His own Testimony, 



191 



the same design. And when the Jews, through mistake, 
thought he meant, that he was one with God : he answers, 
I do not mean I am God by nature, but only God by office. 
— " Query 1 . What was this answer to the purpose ?-— 
Query 2. Why did he not expressly tell them, that he only 
meant he was engaged in the same design with his Father, 
as all other good men are ? This would have cleared him 
from the odious character of a blasphemer, and prevented 
their taking up stones again to stone him. And if indeed 
he was but a man, all must own, it was his duty to have 
spoken out, in as plain a manner as Paul and Barnabas did, 
when the people of Lystra took them for gods, and were 
about to offer sacrifice to them. But to suffer himself to 
pass for a blasphemer now, and soon after to be pronounced 
worthy of death for blasphemy ; and yet never clear up the 
matter; but leave his disciples after him, to follow his 
example, and call him God, the true God, God blessed 
forever, by whom and for whom all things were created, 
when he was as really a mere creature as you and I, is what 
can never be accounted for*." — St. Cyprian considers this 
quotation from the Old Testament in the same light. If 
righteous persons, says he, who paid the obedience to the 
laws of God, might with any degree of fineness and decency 
be entitled Gods; how much more might Christ, the Son 
of God, be styled God in his own person f? 

The whole of this piece of sacred history is set in as 
clear a light as can be desired, by Fiddes in the work 
we have quoted on former occasions. As our Lord, says 
he, was walking in tbe temple, the Jews came to circum- 
vent him, asking him if he was the Messiah. He, knowing 
their design and malice, did not think fit to answer them 
directly, but appeals to his miracles, and tells them more- 
over expressly, that God was his Father, and that he and 
his Father were ONE. The Jews immediately charge him 
with blasphemy, for making himself God, and prepare to 
stone him. Our blessed Lord, in his own vindication, does 
not tell them that he is not God, or that he does not make 
himself God ; a method which one would think he would 
have taken, had it been consistent with truth and justice, 

* Bellamy 011 the Divinity of Christ, p. 24, t Test, against the Jews, 
fc, 2, sect- 6, 



192 



PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. PART III. 



in order to take off so severe a charge as that of blasphemy. 
But he makes them two answers, which, instead of remov- 
ing, rather confirmed their suspicion, and provoked them 
still more. They are to this effect \ as if he had said ; If 
some of your own Sanhedrim or Judges, who have no more 
than a remote and imperfect resemblance of divine Ma- 
jesty, in respect to their office, are called Gods in holy 
scripture ; shall one, who has a proper right and title to that 
name; one whom the Father (having had him with him all 
along) hath sanctified, and sent into the ivorld, be charged 
with blasphemy, for styling himself the Son of God; a title 
which he has a strict and natural right to ? Yet if you will 
not believe my words, at least believe the ivorks that I do ; 
doing manifestly the ivorks of~my Father; so that you may 
easily judge from my doing the same things that the Father 
doth, and from the unity of power and operation, that we 
are both one, and the Father in me, and I in Mm. The 
Jews were so enraged at this, perceiving now, instead of 
clearing himself of what they called blasphemy, he had the 
more strongly asserted his divine generation, that they again 
would have laid hold of him to draw him out of the temple, 
with an intention to stone him* 

189.* There is another very remarkable passage of 
scripture, where our Lord vindicates his own pretensions, 
which contains various intimations of his divine original : — 
" Jesus answered" the Jews, who were finding fault with 
him for healing a man on the sabbath day, « My Father 
worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought 
the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the 
sabbath, but said also, that God was his Father, MAKING 
HIMSELF EQUAL WITH GOD. Then answered Jesus 
and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son 
can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father 
do : for what things soever he doth, these also doth the Son 
likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him 
all things that himself doth : and he will shew him greater 
works than these, that ye may marvel. For as the Father 

* Vol. 1. p. 414. See also Randolph's Vindication of the Doctrine of 
the Trinity, part 2. p. 43—48, where this piece of sacred history is set 
in a very just and proper light. Consult too Trapp on the Trinity, p B 



SECT. 2. 



His own Testimony, 



193 



raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them : even so the Son 
quickeneth whom lje will. For the Father judgeth no man ; 
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: THAT 
ALL MEN SHOULD HONOUR THE SON, EVEN 
AS THEY HONOUR THE FATHER. HE THAT 
HONOURETH NOT THE SON, HONOURETH NOT 
THE FATHER WHICH HATH SENT HIM." John 
5. 17 — 23. This is a part of our Lord's vindication of his 
own conduct, when accused by the Jews of having violated 
the sabbath, because he had performed a miraculous cure 
on that day. His vindication, however, was so little to 
their satisfaction, that they accused him still farther of 
making himself equal with God. Our Saviour goes on to 
explain, but without making the least concession, or giving 
the smallest intimation of his simple humanity. He claims 
God for his own proper Father— assumes a right of ope- 
rating on the sabbath — a power of imitating God in his 
works of providence — of quickening whomsoever he wiU 9 
of those that are dead — the privilege of judging the world, 
and of being honoured like as his heavenly Father is 
honoured. That these are the pretensions of Jesus is evi- 
dent from the whole context ; and that they are inconsistent 
with every idea we can entertain of mere created excel- 
lence, is what I submit to the judgment of every impartial 
enquirer into the truth as it is in Jesus. He is either, the 
true, proper, natural Son of God, or it is impossible to 
vindicate him from the most insolent and consummate im- 
posture. There is no medium fl speak it with reverence) 
between his being the real and genuine Son of God, and a 
most daring blasphemer. 

It is very reasonable to conceive, says Dr. Clarke, that 
Jesus in this place, by calling God his Father in so absolute 
and particular a manner, might intend to hint to his dis- 
ciples what they could not then, but were afterwards to 
understand, namely, that he was Aoyoj Geo?, that Word 
which was in the beginning with God, and was God, 
John 1. 1.* — Let us here, says Origen, ask Celsus con- 
cerning those who are honoured by them as Gods, or 
Daemons, or Heroes ? How can you show, that these are 



Sciip. Doct. p. 86, 



194 



PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. 



PART 1IT. 



honoured by the appointment of God, and not merely- 
through the ignorance and folly of men, who err and fall 
away from him who ought truly to be honoured ? — If Celsus 
on the other side, shall ask us the like question concerning 
Jesus ; I shall show that the honour given to him, is ap^ 
pointed of God ; th&t all men should honour the Son, 
even as they honour the Father — Dr. Fiddes observes 
upon this passage, that they are too strong expressions to 
come from any person who knew himself to be no more than 
a man, or a mere creature ; and even in answer to a charge 
of blasphemy, for taking too much upon himself beforef . 

The title of Son denotes an equality of nature, and we 
here find that^the Jews understood it in the same sense. 
They sought to kill him, because he not only had broken 
the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father— his own 
'proper Father — Tiar^a *&ov t\tys rov Qtov — making himself 
equal with God. — That the Jews understood him to assume 
an equality, not of power or authority only, but of nature, 
is evident, because their charge is founded upon his calling 
God — ihov Uotnpa — his own proper Father. But what does 
our Lord reply to this ? Does he tell the Jews that they 
misunderstood him ? Does he explain what he meant by 
calling God his Father? Does he deny that this imported 
an equality with the Father ? Does the Evangelist give us 
any intimation that the Jews made a m'dng inference from 
his words ? Something of this kind surely might have been 
expected, had our Lord been only a creature. Instead of 
this, he continues to make use of the same offensive term; 
and that in such a manner, as to intimate still more strongly 
the closest conjunction between him and his Father— 
Verily, verily ', I say unto you, The Son can do nothing 
of himself, but what he seeih the Father do : for what 
things soever he doth, these also doth the Son likewise. 
For the Fatlier loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things 
that himself doth. — But, I suppose, I shall be told, that 
these words imply a superiority in the Father. Our Saviour 
declares he could do nothing of himself, and thereby ac- 
knowledges that his whole conduct was in submission to the 
will and commands of God the Father. — Very true. Our 

* ConU Cel. lib. 8. t Theolog. Speculate b. 4, c. 2, 



SECT. 2. 



His own Testimony. 



195 



Lord, with regard to his mediatorial office, acted as the 
Father's delegate and embassador, and did nothing but by 
his commission. And this was very proper to insist on in 
answer to the Jews, who accused him of blasphemy, that he 
had done and said nothing but by authority and commission 
from the Father 

"It would hardly have been consistent with his sincerity 
and probity, his integrity and honesty, as a man, if he had 
not been God too, to let the Jews understand his words in 
such a wrong sense, and lay such a high charge of blas- 
phemy against him upon it, and not to say any thing to 
show they were mistaken, and to correct their error, and to 
vindicate and defend himself : for otherwise it will look as 
if he had been willing to let their mistake pass, though he 
knew it to be so, and to assume to himself the vanity of 
being thought to be God, and by his words to make himself 
such, though he had never said it, or thought it, but knew 
the contrary, which is an intolerable reflection upon the 
meek and humble Jesus ; and not only upon the truth of 
his divinity, but even his honesty, as a man." Payne's 
Sermons on Christ's Divinity, p. 75 f. 

* Randolph's Vindication, p. 2. p. 31—40. 
t See too the present Mr. Robert Gray's Discourses on various subjects, 
p. 64, where he considers this passage of scripture as a proof of our 
Lord's essential divinity. 



196 



PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. 



PART III. 



PART THIRD. 



SECTION III. 



Christ's manner of working miracles a proof of his 
divinity. 



The manner in which our Lord Jesus wrought his Mi- 
racles, corroborates the doctrine of his Deity.— -Hr 

speaks with the authority of a GOD. Striking 

similarity in the language adopted at the creation of 
the world and at the working of the Miracles of our 
Redeemer* — The manner in which Jesus wrought his 
Miraoies, compared with the manner in which Moses, 
the Prophets and the Apostles wrought theirs. 



190. It ought to be observed, when we are speaking of 
the pretensions ot Jesus, that the MANNER of his work- 
ing miracles seems corroborative of his divinity. He con- 
ducts not himself herein as Moses and the Prophets, as the 
Apostles and primitive Christians, were wont to do, but 
rather as the Lord of nature, in whose hand was the life of 
every living thing. Son, says he to the sick of the palsy, 
thy sins he forgiven thee — to the raging winds and seas, 
Peace, be still — to the leperous, Be clean — >to the crooked, 
'Be straight — to the deaf, Hear — to the blind, See — to the 
dumb, Speak — to the withered hand, Be stretched out — to 
the dead, Arise — and to the putrid carcase, Come forth. 
Now, if our Lord was nothing more than a mere man, and 
acted solely by commission from his Father, in like manner 
as Moses and the Prophets did, and in no higher a sense s 



SJBCT. 3. 



Evidence of Miracles. 



197 



there was an arrogance and presumption in his manner in- 
finitely unbecoming such a character. It is impossible not 
to call to mind, on reading of the wonderful works of Jesus, 
the manner of the Almighty when the foundations of the 
world were laid. " Let there be light — Let there be a 
firmament — Let the waters be collected — Let the earth 
bring forth grass — Let the waters abound with fish, and the 
earth with animals — Let the sun, moon and stars enlighten 
the heavens. " In all this there is a striking similarity. 
And in the former instance, as well as in the latter, we may 
say with truth, what the flatterers of Herod said feignedlv and 
blasphemously, IT IS THE VOICE OF A GOD, AND 
NOT OF A MAN. 

Burnet, of the Charterhouse, has expressed this with 
great elegance. The learned Reader will consult the origi- 
nal ; my plan obliges me to give a translation. Moreover, 
says he, when Christ wrought his miracles, he spake not as 
the Apostles, in the name of another; but commandingly 
and like a God. Of old God said, Let there be light, and 
there was light : Christ said, I will; he thou clean; and 
the leper was cleansed, Mat. S. 3. — He said to the paralytic, 
Arise, take up thy bed and go to thy house ; and he went 
away healed, Mat. 9. 6\ — He said to the sea, while the 
tempest was raging, Peace, be still, and the ivind ceased 
and there was a great calm *- 

Let us first look at the air and manner, says the learned 
author of the Origin of Arianism Disclosed, in which he 
executes his greater acts of miraculous might. He speaks 
to the leper, / ivill, be thou clean, He says to the man 
with the withered hand, Stretch forth thine hand. He 
tells the blind man, Receive thy sight. He says to him 
who had now been crippled in his limbs for eight and thirty 
years ; Take up thy bed and walk. He calls to Lazarus, 
lying in the vault of rock before him, and swathed round 
with sepulchral linen, Lazarus, come forth. And he finally 
takes upon him, to rebuke the most unruly elements of 
nature, the winds and the waves; and to address these 
words to the sea, when wildly agitated with a storm, Peace, 



* De Fide et Offlciis, cap, 7, p, 
O 3 



198 PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. PART III. 



be still. These are all imperial acts of authority. They 
are obviously in their manner, the operations of inherent 
and essential Deity, The pointed brevity of the sentences, 
is the genuine sublimity of power ; the easy language of a 
mind, reposing upon its own dignity, and familiar with 
exertions of divinity*. 

This will appear the more remarkable, when it is com- 
pared with the manner in which Moses and the Prophets 
wrought their miracles. They were all done, except the one 
of Moses, which lost him the promised land, with the most 
profound humility, and direct appeal to the Almighty. This 
was still more remarkably the case with the Apostles of our 
Lord. Both Angels and Men have been employed as the 
agents and instruments of the supreme God ; but then they 
never forgot themselves and their ministerial character so 
far, as to attempt to work a miracle at their own pleasure, 
in their own names,, and by their own power. None of 
them ever spake as though they were the Lords of nature. 
The Apostles, in particular, carefully avoided and disclaimed 
this every where, and upon all occasions. Thus, in the 
case of the impotent man, Peter says, " In the name of 
Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk/' Acts 3. 6. 
So says Ananias, " Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus that 
appeared to thee in the way, has sent me, that thou might- 
est receive thy sight." Acts .9. 17. Peter says again, 
" iEneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole/' Acts 9. 34. 
e( His name," says the same Apostle in another place, 
" through faith in his name, hath made this man strong." 
Acts 3. 16. In short : As the miraculous operations of the 
Old Testament, were wrought by an appeal to the power of 
God, so several of those of our Lord were effected in the 
highest style of self-conscious divinity, and most of those 
wrought by the hands of the Apostles, were professedly ac- 
complished in the name and hy the power of Jesus Christ 
of Nazareth. Upon the supposition that Messiah was a 
mere man, this seems altogether unaccountable; but upon 
the principle that he was God and man united for the pur- 
poses of human redemption all is plain, natural, and easy. 



* Page 15. 



SECT* 4, 



His own Testimony. 



199 



PART THIRD. 



SECTION IV. 



Christ's testimony to his own person and charac- 
ter AT THE CLOSE OF HIS LIFE, AND AFTER HIS 
RESURRECTION. 



The death of Jesus attested that he was the true and 
propel' SOJV OF GOD. — Burgess on the Divinity of 
Christ quoted. — Possesses all poiver in heaven and 

earth. Sentiments of Novatian — Athanasius St, 

Cyril, 8)~c. — Requires all nations to he baptized in his 
name. — His omnipresence and immutable love. — He is 
ALPHA and OMEGA, — The ALMIGHTY. — 
The Searcher of hearts. — The true God, or the greatest 
impostor that ever appeared in the World, 

The several declarations, which our Saviour made, when 
he approached the last painful scenes of his life, are 
of great importance in this inquiry into the original dignity 
of his person. Some very able men have been of opinion, 
that the professions he made before his judges decisively 
declare the divinity of his character*. I will produce the 



* The most complete, yet concise view I recollect to have seen f the 
doctrine concerning the divinity of Christ, the Sacred Trinity, and the 
Holy Spirit, is to be met with in the seventh part of the excellent Dr. 
Doddridge's Course of Lectures, All that can be said upon the subject, 
with any degree of certainty, may there be seen in a very small compass. 
No man who wishes to understand his religion, no clergyman especially, 
should be without this invaluable work, I verily believe it has not its 



200 PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS* PART III. 



passages from the four Evangelists, that the reader may be 
better able to judge of the charge for which our blessed 
Saviour was condemned to death : 

191. " And the high priest answered and said unto him; 
I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us, whether 
thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, 
Thou hast said; nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter 
shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of 
power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the 
high priest rent his clothes, saying; He hath spoken blas- 
phemy; what further need have we of witnesses? Behold, 
now ye have heard his blasphemy. What think ye ? They 
answered and said, He is guilty of death." Mat. 26. 
63—66. 

It is not the mere appellation of the Son of God as ap- 
plied to Christ by others, says a learned writer, on which 
the stress deserves to be laid, but the appellation, as it was 
assumed by himself, and understood by the Jews. They 
considered his pretension to the title as blasphemy, and at 
last condemned him to death for it. But in what did this 
blasphemy consist? In the more general sense of the words 
it could not be considered as blasphemy; for the Jews 
called themselves Sons of God, and God their common 
Father: It could not be as a Prophet, for he was considered 
by the generality of the Jews, as a great Prophet, and as 
such he was entitled to the name of the Son of God in an 
eminent degree. It must, therefore, have been in a sense^ 
which had never before been applied to man, and was com- 
patible only with that great person so long predicted by their 
Prophets. That Jesus Christ meant, under the title of the 
Son of God, to represent himself as the Messiah, the Christ, 
is admitted by all, who call themselves Christians, as well 
as by the Jews, who condemned him to the cross. His 
blasphemy, therefore, consisted in calling himself the 
Messiah. But what was the extent of the blasphemy ? The 
Socinians say, that Jesus Christ never professed himself to 
be more than man, and that the imputed blasphemy did not 

equal in the world. The edition by Dr. Kippis should be a good one. 
See a later edition of Doddridge's Whole Works, in 10 vols, royal, 8vo, 
edited by Dr. Williams of Rotherham, and Mr, Parsons of Leeds. 



1SECT. 4. 



His own Testimony, 



201 



imply any pretension to divinity; but merely the assump- 
tion of a certain great office and commission from God, 
which the Jews considered as an imposture: and they 
alledge in favour of this assertion, the common expectation 
of the Jews, who looked only for a great temporal deliverer. 
— In answer to this allegation we may reply, that the ex- 
pectation of the Jews, cannot be made the rule of our belief. 
Predictions are never properly understood, till they are ac- 
complished. Our belief, therefore, of Jesus Christ, is not 
to be regulated by the Jews expectations of the Messiah, 
or their opinions of Jesus Christ; but by his professions' of 
himself. 

Now from these professions, in the many passages, where 
Christ speaks of God as his Father, in the most marked and 
appropriate relation, the obvious inference is, that the ap- 
pellation of the Son of God, assumed by him, implies the 
same kind of relation to him, as that of a man to his father; 
that is, it implies coessentiality with God, and therefore 
equality of nature, and consequently divinity in its full 
extent. Such, I say, appears to be the obvious inference : 
but, thanks to the evangelical historians, we are not left to 
a mere presumptive inference : for we have the express 
attestation of his living witnesses the Jews, to what they 
considered as his meaning : they repeatedly charged him 
with blasphemy for making himself equal with God — one 
with God — and God; and at last condemned him to death 
for his blasphemy by virtue of the Levitical law. 

The Jews, indeed, and his enemies, might have exag- 
gerated the charge against him : But Christ knew, in what 
sense they understood the appellation, which he assumed ; 
and by his acquiescence admitted the truth of their allega- 
tion. If they had misunderstood his pretentions, he had 
many opportunities of undeceiving them, and no doubt 
would have undeceived them, not to prevent his death ; (for 
to that end he knew that he was destined ;) but, (what in his 
opinion, to consider him only as the best of all just men* 
must have been of much greater consequence,) to prevent 
the propagation of an error, which his acquiescence in their 
charge could not fail to establish. Yet instead of correct- 
ing their opinions he confirmed the charge by repeating his 
assertions, and submitting to the sentence, which the Levi- 



202 PERSONAL CHARACTER OP JESUS. PART III. 

tical law passed on him for calling himself the Son of God. 
Therefore, if we admit in any degree the truth of the Chris- 
tian revelation, and believe that Christ came into the world, 
that he should hear witness unto the truth, we must be- 
lieve him to have been what he professed himself to be, the 
Son of God, in the literal sense of those terms, which his 
living witnesses imputed to them, that is, God — equal with 
God — and one with God *i 

192. "Again the high priest asked him, and said unto 
him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And 
Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting 
on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of 
heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, 
What need we any further witnesses ? Ye have heard the 
blasphemy : What think ye ? And they all condemned him 
to be guilty of death." Mark 14. 61—64. 

193. " And as soon as it was day, the elders of the 
people, and the chief priests, and the scribes came together, 
and led him into their council, saying, Art thou the Christ f 
Tell us. And he said unto them, If I do tell you, you will 
not believe. And if I ask you, you will not answer me, nor 
let me go. Hereafter shall the Son of Man sit on the right 
hand of the power of God. Then said they all, Art thou 
then the Son of God f And he said unto them, Ye say 
that I am. And they said, What need we any further wit- 
ness ? for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth." 
Luke 22. 66—71. 

194. " When the chief priests therefore and officers saw 
him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. 
Pilate saith unto him, Take ye him, and crucify him; for I 
find no fault in him. The Jews answered him, We have a 
law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made him- 
self the Son of God" John 19. 6, 7. 

From a comparison of these four passages of holy scrip- 
ture, it is manifest, that our Saviour, to the very last scene 
of his mortal life, professed himself to be " the Son of 
God." He had done the same upon many former occasions. 
When he was but twelve years of age, he reproved his 
anxious parents, by saying, " How is it that ye sought me ? 

* Burgess's Sermon on the Divinity of Christ, p. 40. 



SECT. 4. 



His own Testimony. 



203 



Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business Y 
During the whole time of his public ministry likewise he 
uniformly spake of God as his own Father. And even 
when the Jews charged him with making himself equal with 
God, by pretending to be his Son, he never denied the 
charge, or retracted his pretensions, though they threatened 
to stone him to death for blasphemy. And here, in this last 
and melancholy scene of his life, though he well knew from 
the former conduct of the Jews towards him, that they 
would certainly put him to death, if he still persisted in his 
high pretensions, he nevertheless boldly declared in the face 
of his implacable enemies, that he was W the Son of God." 
This he avowed to the last, and for this he was put to death. 
Our Saviour, therefore, was either what he pretended to be, 
the true and proper Son of God, * without any figure or 
equivocation, or he died bearing witness to a falsehood, and 
was guilty of his own blood. 

The writings of the Old Testament frequently foretel, 
that Messiah should be the Son of God. See Ps. 2. 7. — Ps. 
89. 26, 27. — Isa. 9. 6. — Hos. 11. 1. — Accordingly when 
our Saviour appeared, Messiah and the Son of God were 
frequently, though not always, used as convertible terms, as 
is evident from various passages in the New Testament. 
See particularly, Mat. S. 29. — John 1. 49. — John 11. 27. — 
But then there are several senses in which Messiah is called 
the Son of God. — 1. He is so called because of the miracu- 
lous manner of his conception. See Luke 1. 35. — 2. He is 
so called because of his resurrection from the dead. See 
Acts 13. 32, 33. — -3. He is so called because of his dignity 
and authority. See Heb. 1, 2 — 5. 4. He is so called be- 
cause of his office. John 10. 36*. In all these respects our 
Saviour was the Son of God by way of eminency and excel- 
lency above all others, except in the first instance. 

But then Christ is called the Son of God in such a way 
and manner as never any other was, is, or can be, because 
of his own divine nature, he being the true, proper, and 
natural Son of God, begotten by him, ineffably, before all 

* The observations of Dr, Fiddes in his Theol. Specul. vol. 1. p. 420— 
423, upon this last scene of our Lord's life, are well worthy of the reader's 
attention. 



204 PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. PART III. 

worlds. The New Testament speaks of this peculiarity of 
his Sonship upon various occasions. Thus — " God so loved 
the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoso- 
ever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life ; for God sent not his Son into the world to condemn 
the world, but that the world through him might be saved. 
He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that 
believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not 
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." 
John 3. 16, 17 9 18. — Again : — "God sending his oivn Son 
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in 
the flesh/' Rom. 8. 3. — Again : — " When the fulness of 
time was come, God sent forth his Son made of a woman, 
made under the law." Gal. 4. 4. — Again : — " For this pur- 
pose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy 
the works of the devil." 1 John 3. 8. — And again : — " In 
this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that 
God sent his only begotten Son'* I John 4. 9. — From all 
these passages, and others that might be produced, it is evi- 
dent, that Christ was the Son of God in a high and peculiar 
sense, such as no other Being was, is, or can be. This was 
the sense of all the great writers of the Christian church 
from the beginning. 

Novatian says, that as our Saviour's being the Son of man 
declares his humanity ; so his being the Son of God is an 
undeniable proof of his divinity. And again: — Christ is not 
only a man, because the Son of man, but is also God because 
the Son of God.* — Athanasius says, We believe in one only 
begotten Word, born of the Father, without beginning of 
time, from all eternity, being not a division from the impas- 
sible nature, or an emission, but a perfect Son."! — Cyril of 
Jerusalem saith, When thou nearest Christ called a Son, do 
not think him to be an adopted Son, but a natural Son, an 
only begotten Son, not having any brother ; for he is there- 
fore called the only begotten, because there is none other 
like him, either as to the dignity of his deity, or his birth 
from his Father. — And again : When thou hearest him 
called a Son, do not understand him so only abusively or 
improperly, but understand him to be a true Son, a natural 



* De Trhit. cap. 11. 



$ Exposit. Fid, p. 240. 



SECT. 4. 



His own Testimony. 



205 



Son * — Pamphilus tells us, Origen held that the Son was 
begotten of the Father, and that he is of one substance with 
the Father, but different and distinct from created substance 
— that the only-begotten God our Saviour alone was gener- 
ated of the Father, and is his Son by nature, not adoption, 
born of the intellect of the Father itself. — The only begotten 
Son alone is the Son of the Father by nature. — Origen con- 
ceived the Son to be born of the very substance of God. He 
is consubstantial, or of the same identical substance with 
the Father. He is not a creature, neither by adoption a Son, 
but by nature, and generated of the Father himself.! — To 
these quotations from the Fathers we may add the excellent 
advice of the famous Alexander of Alexandria, who was the 
first opposer of Arius : — It is true, says he, that the Son was 
begotten ; but he that enquires farther into the manner 
thereof, is not to be reckoned among the pious, seeing he 
hearkens not to that which is written : — Seek not after things 
which are too difficult for thee, and search not into those 
things which are too high for thee ; for if the knowledge of 
many other things, far inferior to this, exceed the reach of 
an human understanding, how then shall any without mad- 
ness pretend curiously to search into the essence of God the 
Word ? of whom the prophetic Spirit saith, Who shall de- 
clare his generation ?f 

Besides all these, we have several other testimonies, to 
the personal character of our blessed Saviour, delivered by 
himself, after his resurrection from the dead, some before his 
ascension into heaven, and others after. Before his ascen- 
sion, he said 

195. " All power is given unto me in heaven and in 
earth." 

* Catech. 11. p 93, 94. t Apol. pro Orig. passim, 
t Theodoret. Ecc. Hist, lib. 1, cap. 4. —-See the subject of the Son's 
generation discussed at large in the second article of Bishop Pearson's Ex= 
position of the Creed, p. 105*>-144. If any of my younger brethren among 
the clergy wish to be informed what books they ^should read for the in- 
formation of their minds and the settling of their religious opinions, I 
cannot do them a greater kindness than by recommending to their notice 
this most learned, solid, and judicious book, A man that has read it care- 
fully, and digested it thoroughly, will run little danger of being injured by 
^the flimsy theology of modern latitudinarians. It should seem the Uni- 
versity of Oxford entertained the same sentiments of this work, by their 
having caused it, together with Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, to foe re- 
printed at theii press, 



206 PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. PART II. 

196. " Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, bapti- 
zing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy Ghost." 

197. "Loj I am with you always even unto the end of 
the world/' Mat. 28. 18—20. 

And again, when he had been about sixty years in the 
kingdom of glory : — 

198. " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the 
ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which ivas, and which 
is to come, the Almighty " Rev. 1.8. 

199. Again : — " I am Alpha and Omega" Rev. 1. 11. 

200. Again : — " I am the first and the last" Rev. 1. 

17. 

201. Again : — K I am he which searcheth the reins and 
hearts." Rev. 2. 23. 

202. And again : — " I am Alpha and Omega, the he- 
ginning and the end, the first and the last" Rev. 22. 13. 

Now let any one calmly examine these several declara- 
tions of Jesus, and the manner of his working miracles, with- 
out any regard to system, with the simplicity of a little child, 
and then let him say, whether the person, who hath said and 
done such things, and in such a manner, must not be more 
than mere man ? whether he did not exist before he was 
born of the virgin Mary ? whether he came not originally 
from heaven ? whether he was not naturally superior to all 
the angelic creation ? and whether he did not, some how or 
other, though in a way inexplicable by us, partake of divinity 
with his Father ? Yea, whether he is not possessed of all the 
perfections of the divine nature ? or lastly, whether, if he 
were not originally and essentially of a rank superior to men 
and angels, he was not (horresco referens*) one of the 
most consummate impostors that ever appeared in our 
world ? 



* I am shocked while I speak it. 



SECT, 5. 



Apostolic Testimony. 



207 



PART THIRD 



SECTION V. 



TESTIMONIES TO THE PERSON AND CHARACTER OF 
CHRIST, BY HIS APOSTLES AND DISCIPLES, AFTER HIS 
ASCENSION INTO HEAVEN, 



Views of the Apostles, — Stephen declares Jesus to be the 
just owe— Commits his departing Spirit into his hands. 
—Peter invokes the Lord Jesus for direction. — Testi- 
monies referred to and cited. — The character — the 
works-*-the glory Peter ascribes to Jestis. — Dr. Priest- 
ley's anti-scriptural view of his mediatorial kingdom, 
— A fine passage from Dr. Price's sermons. — Quota- 
tions from Hawker — Harwood — Jones — Ignatius— 
and Origen. 

But all this will more fully appeal*, by comparing what 
the apostles and disciples of our Lord said of him, through 
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, after he had with-drawn 
from our world. And this we will do, as nearly as may be, in 
the order of time, that we may preserve the same uniformity 
of plan, which has been observed in tracing his character 
through the several periods of the world, both before he 
made his appearance in the flesh, and while he conversed 
among men. This will complete the scripture view of his 
character. If we candidly investigate what was said of him 
by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, before he ^came into 
the world : if we fairly examine what were his own preten- 



208 PERSONAL CHARACTER OP JESUS, PART III. 

sions, while he was in the world, and what were the opinions 
of others concer ning him, during the same period : if we 
attend with impartiality to the views of the apostles, when 
they were under the highest degree of spiritual illumination 
that the ever experienced, we shall be in the best possible 
train for arriving at a competent knowledge of the Redeem- 
er's genuine character. — Farther than this, however, we 
cannot go. For, after all, the word of God must decide the 
question. 

203. * We will then begin our further inquiry into the 
opinions of the apostles and disciples of our Lord, concerning 
the dignity of his personal character, with the conduct and 
declarations of Stephen, the proto-maxtyr. This illustrious 
saint affords us an eminent example of invocation to the 
Lord Jesus; who, in the most solemn of all seasons, commits 
his departing spirit into the hands of his Redeemer ; as his 
Redeemer, a little before, had committed his departing spirit 
into the hands of his heavenly Father. "When Jesus had cried 
with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend 
my spirit : and having said thus, he gave up the ghost." 
Luke 23. 46. So this good man, after calling our Lord Jesus 
the Just One, Acts 7. 52. and reproving the people for be- 
traying and murdering him, " being full of the Holy Ghost, 
looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, 
and Jesus standing on the right hand of God ; and said, 

204. "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of 
man standing on the right hand of God." 

205. * " Then they cried out with a loud voice, and 
stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and 
cast him out of the city, and stoned him. And they stoned 
Stephen, invoking, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my 
spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, 
Lord, lay not this sin to their charge ! And when he had 
said this he fell asleep." Acts 7. 55—60. 

Stephen's commission of his spirit into the hands of God, 
after the example of his great Master, is a proof of the sepa- 
rate existence of the souls of men after death; for if they had no 
souls, why should they pretend to commit them to the care 
of the Almighty ? And his dying invocation of Jesus Christ, 
in like manner as the same Jesus Christ, in similar circum- 
stances, had invoked his Father, is a further proof, that he 



sect. 5. Apostolic Testimony. 



209 



believed him to be possessed of real and proper divinity. 
We may quibble as long as we please upon this conclusion, 
from this piece of sacred history, but all the sophistry in 
the world cannot invalidate the force of it. Jesus is either 
the real and proper Son of God, and entitled to divine 
honours, or Stephen, though " full of the Holy Ghost," died 
in the act of gross idolatry.* 

Bishop Horsley, in his reply to Dr. Priestley, says, "I 
shall always insist, Sir, that Stephen died a martyr to the 
deity of Christ. The accusation against him, you say, was 
" his speaking blasphemous things against the temple and 
the law."J You have forgotten to add the charge of blas- 
phemy " against Moses and against God/'f The blasphemy 
against the temple and the law probably consisted in a pre- 
diction, that the temple was to be destroyed, and the ritual 
law of course abolished. The blasphemy against Moses was 
probably his assertion, that the authority of Moses was 
inferior to that of Christ. But what could be the blasphemy 
against God ? What was there in the doctrine of the apos- 
tles, which could be interpreted as blasphemy against God, 
except it was this, that they ascribed divinity to one who had 
suffered publicly as a malefactor. That this was Stephen's 
crime, none can doubt, who attend to the conclusion of the 
story. He " looked up stedfastly into heaven, " says the 
inspired historian, 66 and saw the glory of God," [that is, 
he saw the splendour of the Shechinah, for that is what is 
meant, when the glory of God is mentioned as something to 
be seen,] " and Jesus standing on the right hand of God."§ 
He saw the man Jesus in the midst of this divine light. His 
declaring what he saw, || the Jewish rabble understood as 
an assertion of the divinity of Jesus. They stopped their 

* See Bishop Horsley on this account of dying Stephen, Tracts, p. 
208. As the latter of these prayers to Jesus, after his ascension into hea- 
ven, was answered in directing the lot for the choice of Matthias, so the 
former prayer of dying Stephen was also attended to by the Saviour, in the 
niiraculous conversion of the persecuting Saul, and probably of several 
others of those who were concerned in his death, on the day three thousand 
were converted by the preaching of Peter. Si Stephanus non orasset, 
ecclesia Paulum non habuisset, says one of the Fathers. If Stephen had 
not prayed, the church had been destitute of Paul. 
J Letters to Dr. Horsley, p. 60, t Acts 6. verse 11, § Acts 7. verse S5. 
fj Acts 7. verse 56. 

P 



i 

210 PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. PART III, 

ears ; they overpowered his voice with their own clamours ; 
and they hurried him out of the city, to inflict upon him the 
death which the law appointed for blasphemers.* He died, 
as he had lived, attesting the deity of our crucified Master. 
His last breath was uttered in a prayer to Jesus, first for 
himself, and then for his murderers. " They stoned Stephen 
calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 
And he cried with a loud voice, Lord lay not this sin to their 
charge." J It is to be noted, that the word God is not in 
the original text ; which might be better rendered thus, 
" They stoned Stephen invocating and saying, &c." Jesus 
therefore was the God, whom the dying martyr invocated in 
his last agonies ; when men are apt to pray, with the utmost 
seriousness, to him whom they conceive the mightiest to 
save. 

Peter, the apostle of the circumcision, after the descent 
of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, first began the 
business of preaching the everlasting gospel. Before this, 
during the life-time of his divine Master, he had repeatedly 
declared his belief, that Jesus was the Son of God: but no\v ; 
being more fully illuminated, he throws out various hints, 
which may be considered as explanatory of that high and 
mysterious term. This, however, is done with considerable 
reserve 5 because the great work in which the apostles were 
then engaged, was to convince the world, in the first place, 
not so much of the divinity of Jesus Christ, as that he was 
the promised Messiah and Son of God, whatever might 
otherwise be the meaning of that illustrious and exalted title. 
All the other doctrines of the gospel would of course follow 
in due time and order, as the people's minds were prepare^, 
and rendered capable of receiving them. 

These things being premised in general, we may now 
proceed to observe, that in the very first of Peter's discourses, 
on the same day they were all illuminated from on high, he 
is joined by the glorious company of the disciples, in offering 
up a prayer to Jesus, that he would direct the lot for the 
choice of a new apostle in the room of Judas. And as he 
had before declared to Jesus, when present, that he knew 
all things, so he addresses him now, when absent, by an ap- 
pellation of the same import. 



* Acts 7. ver, 57, 58. t Acts 7. ver. 59, 60. 



SECT. 5. 



Apostolic Testimony. 



211 



206* " Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all 
men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, that he 
may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which 
Judas hy transgression fell, that he might go to his own 
place/'* — This is a second instance of direct prayer heing 
made to the Lord Jesus after his ascension into heaven : and 
that this prayer was directed to Christ is evident, because he 
is styled Lord, which was his common appellation ; and it 
is his prerogative, as well as his Father's, to " know the 
hearts of all men;" to " know what was in man/' John 2. 
25 ; to be a " discerner of the thoughts and intents of the 
heart," Hebrews 4. 12 ; and " to search the reins and 
hearts," Rev. 2. 23 ; and because his apostles were all of 
his peculiar appointment ; he was, therefore, the proper per- 
son to be invoked upon this occasion to direct the choice ; 
and he himself afterwards called Paul to be an apostle in a 
miraculous manner from heaven. For these reasons I think 
it unquestionably certain, that Jesus Christ is the Lord here 
invoked. 

207. In the second of Peter's discourses, which was 
instrumental in the conversion of three thousand souls, he 
tells us, such was the character of Jesus, it was not possible 
he should be kept in the grave by the power of death.f Does 
not this imply, not only that he had a nature superior to sim- 
ple humanity, but that he was Lord of the invisible world, 
having the keys of death and the grave in his hand ? 

* Acts 1.24,25. See Whitby on the place, where he observes, that 
Woltzogenius truly notes, they prayed to the Lord Jesus. Consult too 
Burgh s scriptural Considerations for an unanswerable defence of this inter- 
pretation, p. 81—35. 

To these several considerations I add that the Christian fathers are par- 
ticularly careful to vindicate the omniscience of our blessed Saviour. Ig- 
natius says, There is nothing hid from the Lord ; but our very secret things 
are nigh unto him. Let us, therefore, do all tilings, as having him dwell- 
ing in us ; that we may be his temples, and he our God in us. Ep. ad 
Ep. cap. 15. 

Clemens Alexandrinus tells us—The Son of God never goes off from his 
watch-tower : is never parted, never separated, nor moving from place to 
place 5 but is always every where, and contained no where: all mind, all 
light, all eye of his Father, beholding all things, hearing all things, knowing 
all things. 

A little after-— Ignorance cannot affect God, him that was the Fa- 
ther's counsellor before the foundation of the world." Stom. lib, 7. cap. 2, 
t Acts 2. 24, See Horsley's Tracts, p. 206. 

P 2 / 



212 



PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS . PART III, 



208. In the latter part of the same discourse, Peter 
speaks of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in a way which 
intimates a connection, that no merely human being can be 
supposed to have with the Lord of nature : " Therefore, 
being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received 
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed 
forth this which ye now see and hear. 5 ' Acts 2. 33. 

209. In the next discourse, which he made, he calls 
Jesus Christ, (C the Holy One f * and 

210. " The Just;" waA 

211. «Tke Prince;' or author, " of Life."* And, a 
few years afterwards, when he preached to Cornelius and 
his friends, this same apostle informs them, that 

212. " Jesus Christ is Lord of all" Acts 10. 36*. 

213. After this same blessed messenger of good tidings 
had published the everlasting gospel in various parts of the 
world for many years, he wrote two general epistles to 
the converts of the dispersion. In the former of these, 
written about twenty seven years after our Lord's ascension 
into heaven, he tells us, that " Jesus Christ went and 
preached by his Spirit in the days of Noah to the disobedient 
spirits in prison, J and that now," 

214. " Being exalted to the right hand of God," in his 
human nature, all the " angels, authorities, and powers are 
made subject unto him."f Whatever is meant by our 
Lord's preaching to the spirits in prison, it certainly implies, 
that he was, in the opinion of Peter, living in the days of 
Noah, and, consequently, that he had some kind of real 
and sensible existence before he became a human being. 

As to all the angels, and authorities, and powers being 
made subject to a mere weak, frail, peccable, though glori- 
fied man, it is a notion too idle to need a serious refutation. 
Dr Priestley has given us an account of his view of Christ's 
mediatorial kingdom, and the high character he sustains as 
the present Governor and future Judge of mankind, in his 
Letters to Dr. Price ; and the result seems to be, that as, 
while on earth, Christ was no more, exclusive of inspiration, 
than one of the common people and unenlightened men of 

* Ibid. 3. 14, 15. See Burgh's Sequel, p. 129. 
t 1 Pet. 3. 19, §0. Ibid. 3. 22, 



SECT. 5. 



Apostolic Testimony, 



213 



this time, or as he speaks, p. 172, " the son of Joseph and 
Mary, possessed of no natural advantages over his father 
Joseph, or any other man in a similar situation of life in 
Judea:" So now in heaven he is no more than virtuous 
Christians are to be, nor does he possess any peculiar autho- 
rity ' y nor will he hereafter in raising the world from the 
dead and judging it, exercise any power which the indivi- 
duals themselves then raised and judged, will not be 
equally capable of exercising *, But, with all the assumed 
confidence, and dogmatical assertion of this adversary to the 
truth, the Sovereign whom all the angels in heaven obey 
assuredly is, a being whose nature is, at least, equal to their 
own.-— -There is an impropriety, an absurdity in the very 
nature of the thing. iVnd nothing but the most absolute 
and incontroulable evidence should incline us even to make 
the supposition. A man, a mere man, a weak, frail, pec- 
cable mortal, to be placed at the head of creation ! — to take 
his seat at the right hand of God ! — to be the king of the 
armies of heaven ! — to have Michael, Gabriel, and all the 
angels, archangels, cherubim and seraphim, that adore 
before the throne of God, at his feet ! — nay, to have the 
Holy Spirit himself under his dominion and direction, to 
send or not send as he pleases ! — to be the universal judge 
of the world, to whom all knees shall bow, all tongues con- 
fess, and all hearts submit ! — to doom myriads of wretched 
souls to everlasting burnings with the devil and his angels, 
and award crowns of immortal glory to countless millions 
of happy spirits ! — Before we can admit a doctrine so absurd 
and incredible, we must renounce both the divinity of Reve- 
lation, and the exercise of reason. 

There is a fine passage on this subject in one of Dr. 
Price's Sermons, which I will take the liberty of transcrib- 
ing here for the edification of the reader : — The scriptures 
tell us, says this writer, that Christ, after his resurrection 
became Lord of the dead and living ; that he had all power 
given him in heaven and earth ; that angels were made sub- 
ject to him ; and that he is hereafter to raise all the dead, 
to judge the world, and to finish the scheme of the divine 
moral government with respect to this earth, by conferring 



% See the Appendix to Dr. Price's Sermons, p. 390* 
p 3 



214 PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. PART III. 

eternal happiness on all the virtuous, and punishing the 
wicked with everlasting destruction. — Consider whether such 
an elevation of a mere man is credible, or even possible ? 
Can it be believed that a mere man could be advanced at 
once so high as to be above angels, and to be qualified to 
rule and judge this world? Does not this contradict all that 
we see, or can conceive of the order of God's works ? Do 
not all beings rise gradually, one acquisition laying the 
foundation of another, and preparing for higher acquisitions ? 
What would you think were you told, that a child just 
born, instead of growing like all other human creatures, had 
started at once to complete manhood and the government of 
an empire ? This is nothing to the fact I am considering. 
—The power, in particular, which the scriptures teach us 
that Christ possesses of raising to life all who have died and 
all who will die, is equivalent to the power of creating a 
world. How inconsistent is it to allow to him one of these 
powers, and at the same time to question whether he could 
have possessed the other? — to allow that he is to restore 
and new-create this world ; and yet to deny that he might 
have been God's agent in originally forming it * ? 

Let us for a moment, says Mr. Hawker, pass the boun- 
daries of probability, and, in opposition, to the numberless 
obstructions in the way, let it be admitted. Now, then, we 
reduce in idea the great Judge of all the earth to the humble 
standard of humanity. But even here, again, a new diffi- 
culty arises. To what cause can we reasonably ascribe this 
wonderful exaltation ? What was there in the life of Jesus, 
simply considered as a man, which merited this astonishing 
accession to the right hand of power, to be the Judge of 
quick and dead, and to determine the everlasting fate of 
millions ? I speak with all possible reverence, and even 
with a religious apprehension upon my mind, while pro- 
posing questions of this bold nature. But surely, it could 
never be merely for preaching a system of moral virtue, or 
being a pattern of the most perfect righteousness, much less 
for dying as a martyr to his cause, and sealing the testimony 
of his doctrine with his blood. These are very inadequate 
causes, wherefore a name shall be given him which is above 



* Pape 146—148. 



SECT. 5, 



Apostolic Testimony. 



215 



every name. Great as these qualities are in themselves, 
and surpassing all comparison, which the highest, and 
the best of men bear to the person of Jesus, yet there is 
no proportion between the merit and the reward, but 
it is without parallel, in all the dispensations of provi- 
dence that have ever been revealed to the knowledge of 
mankind *. 

I add, moreover, a fine passage from another able writer, 
upon the same subject : — -When I have been contemplating 
■this subject (the Socinian hypothesis) it has always appear- 
ed to me very strange, that such a magnificent apparatus 
should be instituted by heaven to usher into the world one 
who was nothing more than a man ! Angels after angels 
wing their flight to Bethlehem, to indicate the birth of a 
man ! Gabriel, one of the most exalted of the heavenly 
spirits, is dispatched from the throne of God to announce 
the birth of a man ! Another celestial envoy is delegated to 
Joseph, to bid him not hesitate in taking Mary to wife, for 
that which was conceived in her, was, indeed, of the Holy 
Ghost, but was nothing more than man I A most magnifi- 
cent heavenly choir, consisting of a multitude of angels, 
cheering the midnight hours with repeating, Glory to God 
in the Highest ! Good will towards men ! deputed to our 
world, and chanting these rapturous strains to celebrate the 
birth of a man ! Is it not something incongruous and dis- 
parate, that Heaven should display all this splendid scenery, 
and lavish all this pomp and pageantry to introduce into 
our world a mere ordinary common man, distinguished in 
no one natural endowment from any other of the species ? 
But supposing the Being introduced with all this eclat, to be 
the same who was in the beginning with God, and had glory 
with the Father before the world was, is not the decoration 
and magnificence, with which heaven dressed the stage, on 
which the Divine messenger would shortly appear, highly 
pertinent and honourable ? and is it not with the greatest 
propriety, that multitudes of the heavenly host, on this great 
occasion,, the greatest that ever occurred in the annals of 
this world, should conjoin with harmonious voices and ac- 
cordant hearts, in applauding and solemnizing a conde- 



* Sermons, p. 243, 244. 



216 



PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS 



PART III. 



scension and benevolence, illustrious and great beyond all 
example f . 

The second Epistle of Peter was written upwards of 
thirty years after our Saviour left the world, and just before 
the apostle's own dissolution. In the opening of it he calls 
his blessed Master, 

215. " Our God and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Pet. 
L 1. 

Mr. Jones observes upon this first verse of Peter's second 
Epistle, that the Greek is — T« Qiov n^m x«t SwTtjpo? lno-ou 
K§i<rrtf — the very same, as to the order and grammar of the 
words, with the last verse of this Epistle — t8 Ku^a npav xa* 
SwTrjpo; Imra Koiam — which is thus rendered in our English 
version — of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And so, 
without doubt, it should be in the other passage ; there 
being no possible reason why ©<a n^v, should not signify, 
our God, as well as m Kvpix n^w, our Lard. Our trans- 
lators have preserved the true rendering in the margin. 

There is another expression, Tit. 2. 13. that ought to 
be classed with the foregoing ; Looking for that blessed 
hope, and the glorious appearing ?a ^syaxs ©e« aai S^t^o; 
u/Awv incm K^o-ry, of our great God and Saviour, Jesus 
Christ X. — I observe, moreover, that Ignatius has an expres- 
sion exactly the same with this of the Apostle : — <f Accord- 
ing to faith and the love of Jesus Christ our God and 

Saviour." — Ka7« rtiqb) *eti wyavrw Iwx Kptcrrtf ra ©=8 **i Sfiflujoj 

216. Heaven is " The everlasting kingdom of our Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1.11. 

217. "To deny the Lord that bought us" with his own 
precious life is a damnable heresi/ ; 2 Pet. 2. 1. 

218. He exhorts believers to " grow in grace, and in 
the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 
and then, as he had opened his public ministry with a 
prayer to the Redeemer for direction in an important affair, 
so now he closes his life and his ministry together, with 
ascribing everlasting glory to the same adorable Being: 

219. u To our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," says 
he " be glory both now and forever^. Amen. — Origen has 

* Harewood's Socinian Scheme, p. 49—52. * Catholic Doctrine, 
p. 11. i Ad Roin. £ % Pet- 8 i &* 



SECT. 5. 



Apostolic Testimony. 



217 



an ascription of glory to Christ like unto this of Peter: — 
Christ is God, says this great man, and he who adores him, 
should adore him in spirit and in truth. Let us, there- 
fore, pray the Lord, that we may be a building founded 
upon a rock, which no storm shall have power to overthrow, 
through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is glory and do- 
minion forever and ever. Amen*. — This is the evidence, 
that arises to the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, from the 
discourses and writings of this apostle. Well might he 
declare, as he does in one of the same epistles, " We have 
not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known 
unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
2 Pet. 1. 16, 17. He spake what he knew. He had seen 
with his own eyes the glory of his Lord. He had heard 
with his own ears the declaration of his heavenly Father, 
when " There came such a voice to him from the excellent 
glory, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased." 

220. We may observe farther, in addition to these evi- 
dences from the various declarations of Stephen and Peter, 
that the eunuch of Ethiopia, being instructed by Philip the 
apostle, declared that, he believed " Jesus Christ to be the 
Son of God." Acts 8. 37. And James, another of his 
friends and companions, styles him, 

221. a Lord of Glory." James 2. 1. The former cha- 
racter is expressive of what the Redeemer is essentially and 
by nature, the latter of his present exaltation and glorified 
humanity. 

222. Jude says : — There are certain men — turning the 
grace of our Lord into lasciviousness, and denying the only 
Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ f." Jude 4. Some 
would render this passage, " Denying the only Lord God, 
even our Lord Jesus Christ," and so make it a proof of his 
divinity. — Others would have it, " Denying the only Lord 
God and our Lord Jesus Christ:" — " Denying Jesus Christ 
our only Master, God and Lord :" — u Denying God the 
only Sovereign, and our Lord Jesus Christ." Each of these 
translations is followed by respectable men. The reader 
will select that which he judges most agreeable to the ori- 

* Horn. 26. in loc cap. 3 t Consult Whitby, Hammond and 

Doddridge on the piace. See too Jones on the Trinity, p. 42—41, 



218 



PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. 



PART nr. 



ginal. I would never lay serious stress upon a passage which 
is so ambiguous, in proof of any important doctrine. 

223. " Now unto him that is able to keep you from 
falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of 
his glory with exceeding joy; to the only wise God our 
Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both 
now and ever. Amen Jude 24, 25. This passage ap- 
pears to me ambiguous, and may be applied either to the 
Father, or the Son. I am rather inclined, however, to sup- 
pose, it was intended by Jude as an ascription of praise to 
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The reader will judge 
for himself. 

See Jones on the Trinity, p. 44, where he applies it to the Son. 
Dr. Guise also applies it in the same manner, giving his reasons for so 
doing, which reasons seem to me attended with some degree of probability* 



sect. 6. Apostolic Testimony. 219 



PART THIRD. 



SECTION VI. 



THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST ARGUED FROM SOME CIRCUM- 
STANCES IN THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 



Manifestation of Jesas in the conversion of Saul. — A re- 
petition of ancient appearances to Adam — Abraham — . 
Moses, Sfc, — Lord Barrington's supposition. — How 
the Bishop of St. David's viewed the extraordinary 
event. — Paul speaking to the Elders of the Church of 
Ephesiis, calls Jesus GOD. Sentiments of Dod- 
dridge. — Unwarrantable liberty taken with this pas- 
sage by Mr Gilbert Wakefield, 

The history and writings of Paul, the great Apostle of 
the Gentiles, next solicit our attention. The field is large, 
and this part of our design might be extended to a very 
considerable length. But as it is intended to give only a 
compendious, though full view of the scriptural representa- 
tions of the subject before us, it will be our endeavour to 
render it as short and compact as is consistent with the 
nature of our plan. In order to this, we will first make our 
observations upon such parts of the Acts of the Apostles as 
are to our purpose, and then proceed to the consideration of 
various declarations in the immortal epistles of this extra- 
ordinary man. And in all this, we shall take for granted, 
not only that the sacred penmen always mean as they say, 
but that they always reason conclusively; and that if there 
be any mistakes, any false premises, any weak reasonings, or 



220 PERSONAL CHARACTER OF JESUS. PART III. 

any silly conclusions, the whole are to be imputed to us, and 
not, in the smallest degree, to this infallible writer. 

That man must not only be greatly wanting in modesty 
and humility, who sets up his own judgment in opposition 
to that of the sacred writers, but he must be possessed of a 
very culpable degree of pride and self-conceitedness. Be 
this, however, as it may, I will produce a number of pas- 
sages, and appeal to the common sense of serious Chris- 
tians for the proper meaning and application of them. For 
though there are several things in the holy scriptures, and 
especially in the writings of this Apostle, hard to be under- 
stood ; yet, I think, the difficulties referred to by Peter, are 
not upon the subject now under consideration. To me, as 
far as the fact is concerned, the scriptures are herein attend- 
ed with no material difficulty. I receive their declarations 
as the oracles of heaven, and have no doubt, but they axe 
strictly true, in the full, unequivocal sense of the text and 
context. If others think differently, I have no quarrel with 
them ? but leave them to God the judge of all, who will ren- 
der unto every man according to his deeds. We are all 
equally accountable for the use we make of our understand- 
ings, as for our moral conduct. 

There are some circumstances in the history of this 
Apostle's conversion, which naturally draw one's attention 
back to the appearances of the Shechinah under the Old 
Testament dispensation ; and no man, I think, can coolly 
compare them together, without any regard to a preconceived 
system, who- would not conclude them to be, either the very 
same, or, at least, of the very same nature. 

224.* " As Saul journeyed, he came near Damascus : 
and suddenly there shined round about him a light from 
heaven. And he fell to rhe earth, and heard a voice saying 
unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ? and he 
said, Who art thou, Lord * ? And the Isord said, I am 
Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick 
against the pricks. And he, trembling and astonished, said, 
Lord y what wilt thou have me to do?—- — Then was Saul 

* Lord "Harrington supposes, that Paul being a learned Jew, knew, 
this light to he the Shechinah ; and that it imported the divine presence. 
He therefore with confidence asked, who art taou, Lord? Miscei. 

Sac, Ess. 3. 



SECT. 6. 



Apostolic Testimony, 



22 1 



certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. 
And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, 
that he is the Son of God." The learned Bishop of St. 
David's speaks of this extraordinary event in the following 
words : — Another instance, to which I shall ever appeal, of 
an early preaching of our Lord's divinity, is the story of St. 
Paul's conversion : in which, as it is twice related by him- 
self, Jesus is deified in the highest term. — To me, I confess, 
it appears to have been a repetition of the scene at the bush, 
heightened in terror and solemnity. Instead of a lambent 
flame appearing to a solitary shepherd amid the thickets of 
the wilderness, the full effulgence of the Shechinah, over- 
powering the splendor of the mid-day sun, bursts upon the 
the commissioners of the Sanhedrim, on the public road to 
Damascus, within a small distance of the city. Jesus speaks 
and is spoken to, as the divinity inhabiting the glorious 
light. Nothing can exceed the tone of authority on the 
one side, the submission and religious dread upon the other. 
The recital of this story seems to have been the usual 
prelude to the Apostle's public apologies ; but it only proved 
the means of heightening the resentment of his incredulous 
countrymen *. Whether all the circumstances of this re- 
markable history, when laid together, amount to a strict 
and absolute proof of the divinity of Jesus Christ, I pretend 
not to determine: but I submit it to the judgment of the 
pious reader, whether the idea before suggested (that this 
appearance of Jesus Christ to Paul and his companions in 
such wonderful splendor was the Shechinah of former ages) 
is founded in truth. It seems to me, to have been the same 
glorious light, which appeared to Adam, to Abraham, to 
Moses, and to others, upon various occasions. This has 
been, at least, the conjecture of learned men f. And as it 
admits not of absolute proof, I mention it merely as a con- 
jecture, which is not altogether destitute of probability. 

225 * One other passage in the Acts of the Apostles 
ought not to be omitted. Chap. 20. 28. There addressing 
the elders of the church of Ephesus, the learned Apostle 
says, Ci Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the 
flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you over- 

* Tracts, p. 211. t See Whitby on Acts 22. 6, where this con- 
jiecture is considered at large, and with considerable evidence. 



222 PERSONAL CHARACTER OP JESUS. PART III. 



seers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased 
with his own blood. The divinity of Jesus Christ, and the 
atonement which he made for sin, is clearly and strongly 
intimated in this one verse. And when it is illustrated and 
explained by other more conspicuous passages, of which 
great numbers are to be met with in the word of God, we 
need not hesitate in saying, it is one of the most important 
texts in the bible. 

Verse 28. Dr. Doddridge observes upon this scripture : — 
How very little reason there is to follow the few copies 
which read Lord instead of God, the Rev. Messieurs Enty 
and Lavington have so fully shewn, in their dispute with 
Mr. Joseph Hallet on this text, that I think this passage 
must be allowed as an incontestable proof, that the blood of 
Christ is here called the blood of God ; as being the blood 
of that man, who is also God with us, God manifested in 
the flesh. And 1 cannot but apprehend, that it was by the 
special direction of the Holy Spirit, that so remarkable an 
expression was used. 

I add Ignatius has two expressions similar to this of 
Paul. The first is in his epistle to the Romans, sect. 6. — 
" Suffer me to imitate the passion of my God." The second 
is in the first sect, of his epistle to the Ephesians : — " En- 
couraging yourselves by the blood of God/' Expressions 
like these would not have been used by the pious Martyr, 
one should suppose, unless he had conceived himself autho- 
rized so to do by scriptural precedent. Besides, the church 
of God, is a common expression in the New Testament, 
but the church of the Lord is never once used. 

I cannot help noticing here a liberty that is taken by the 
learned Mr. Wakefield with this passage in his late transla- 
tion of the New Testament. He has rendered it — <c Take 
care to tend the church of God, which he gained for 
himself by his own son/' The reader will observe this is 
making scripture, and not translating it. I am not un- 
mindful of the reasons advanced in the note upon this verse. 
They appear to me, however, by no means satisfactory. We 
must ever insist, that in all passages of scripture, which 
contain controverted doctrines, the translator is not at liberty 
to deviate from the original, to give countenance to his own 
preconceived hypothesis. He ought to keep as near to the 



SECT. 6. 



Apostolic Testimony. 



223 



original as the idioms of the two languages admit, and give 
his readers the liberty of interpreting for themselves; or 
else he is propagating his own private sentiments only, 
rather than the truths contained in the sacred writings. The 
translator, indeed, may be permitted, I conceive, to add 
what illustrations and explanations to his version he pleases; 
but no liberties whatever should be taken with the text. 
Versions of this free and liberal nature are admissible only 
as exercises of literary skill : proper to be consulted on 
critical points. As rules of faith they can never be sub- 
mitted to by any person of the smallest discernment. In 
all such cases we want to know what is the will of God, 
and, not, what are the opinions of men, On this principle, 
the translation of Messrs. Harewood, Gilpin, and Wakefield, 
are equally to be rejected. They are all ingenious, but all 
conducted in such a manner as to leave too much room for 
the propagation of their own peculiar sentiments, let those 
sentiments be what they may. And accordingly the first 
and the last of these learned gentlemen have not failed to 
inculcate their respective private opinions, one the doctrines 
of Arius and the other those of Socinus. Such a conduct, 
I think, cannot be considered as perfectly ingenuous. We 
ought to be thankful for the labours of learned men, but yet 
so as to call no man master *. 

* See too Acts 10. 86, wliere Mr. Wakefield has taken a similar liberty 
with the sacred text. 

The learned reader will consult Mills in loco for tha various readings 
en this passage, and Gnomon Bengelii. See too Grotius and Beza, 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART III. 



PART THIRD. 



SECTION VII. 



THE INVOCATION OF CHRIST, A PROOF OF HIS DIVINITY. 



Jesus an object of ?*eligious adoration. — Claims equal 
honour with the Father. — Or i gen, Dr. Clark, Grotius, 
and Burgess speak decidedly upon our Lord's preroga- 
tive as God.-*-Our authority for the worship of Jesus 
indubitable. — Particular examples of prayer to Jesus. 
— TV ritings of the Apostle Paul abound with prayers 
to him. — The tvorship of Jesus teas the test and evi- 
dence of Christianity. — Various important authorities 
from human writings. 



There are two or three other circumstances incidentally 
mentioned in the history of Paul's conversion, which it is 
proper to notice before we take leave of the Acts of the 
Apostles, and which amount to a very considerable proof of 
the divinity of our Lord and Saviour. For the sacred his- 
torian informs us, that it was customary, in the days of the 
apostles, for all the disciples to invoke Jesus Christ. If 
then, according to every law human and divine, no being is 
entitled to religious homage and adoration but the Deity ; 
and if Jesus Christ was constantly invoked in the days of 
the apostles ; it will follow, either that he is possessed of 
divinity, real and proper divinity, in common with his eter- 
nal Father, or else that all the apostles and first Christians 
robbed God of his incommunicable honour, and were guilty 
of a very dangerous species of idolatry. 



SECT. 7* 



Invocation of his Na?ne, 



225 



But, because the arguments for the divinity of Christ, 
taken from the worship that appears to have been paid him 
by the first Christians, amount to what I would call a theo- 
logical demonstration, it will be necessary to depart a little 
from our theological plan, and to produce all the most 
material passages to this purpose in one view, and then leave 
the reader ro form what judgment of it he may think it 
deserves. 

First then, let us see whether the New Testament 
affords us any particular precepts concerning prayer to the 
Lord Jesus Christ. And the following will all or most 
of them be satisfactory, I believe, to every impartial man. 

226. * " Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, 
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he that doeth 
the will of my Father which is in heaven." Mat. 7. 21. 
These are the words of our Saviour ; and do they not imply, 
that it would be the practice of his followers to address him 
with religious worship, and solemn invocation ? 

227. * u Jesus came and spake unto his disciples, saying, 
All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth : go ye, 
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" 
Matt. 28. 18, 19. Here is a divine command to dedicate 
the whole Christian world to the service of the three per- 
sons of the Divine Nature, and, if so, to the service of the 
Son as well as the other two divine persons. But this will 
appear more clear and intelligible from the scriptures which 
follow. 

228.* 6( For the Father judgeth no man, but hath com- 
mitted all judgment unto the So?i ; that all men should 
honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He 
that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father 
which sent him" John 5. 22. 23. 

Origen, speaking upon 1 Cor. 1 . 2. With all that call 
on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, declares him to be 
God, whose name was called upon. And if to call upon 
the name of the Lord, and to adore God, be one and the 
self-same thing ; then as Christ is called upon, so is he to 
be adored. And as we offer to God the Father, first of all 
prayers, so must we also to the Lord Jesus Christ; and as 

Q 



226 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART im* 



we offer the supplications to the Father, so do we also to 
the Son ; and as we offer thanksgivings to God, so do we 
offer thanksgivings to our Saviour. For the holy scripture 
teaches us, that the same honour is to be given to both, 
that is, to God the Father and the Son, when it says, that 
they may honour the Son, as they honour the Father *. — 
Dr. Clarke paraphrases the passage, that it is the will of 
God the Father that the Son should be honoured with the 
same faith and obedience which he requires to be paid to 
himself. — Grotius remarks on it, That the power of the 
Son being known, men might worship and reverence him — 
Christ secretly shews how closely he is united to the Father; 
for God does not give his honour to any separate from him- 
self. 

229. * " If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do 
it." John 14. 14. 

230. * <c Where two or three are gathered together in 
my name ^ there am I in the midst of them." Mat. 18. 20. 

231. * On the strength of these assurances John says, 
" And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if 
we ask any thing according to his will), he heareth us. And 
if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know 
that we have the petitions, that we desired of him" John 
5~ 14, 15. — Nothing can shew, says an able writer, more 
clearly and expressly than these passages, that Christ is the 
proper object of our prayers, and that he was so considered 
by St. John. They serve too as a collateral proof of our 
Saviour's declaration of his divinity. For nothing less than 
God can be the proper object of our adorations ; therefore, 
when Christ assures us, that he will be present to all our 
supplications, and that he will perform our petitions, he 
encourages and directs us to address our prayers to him, as 
well as to the Father; and therefore, declares himself God > 
as unequivocally as by any appellation the most expressive 
of divinity f." 

232. * Again :— a Arise and be baptized, and wash away 
thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." Acts 22. 16\ 
— Chrysostom observes upon these words, that by them 
Ananias shews that Christ was God, because it is not law- 

* Orig. Com. in Rom. 10 lib. 8. p. 478. 

t Burgess's Sermon on the Divinity of Christ, p. 41. 



sect. / • Invocation of his Name, 227 

ful to invoke any besides God. Socinus was a strenuous 
advocate for the invocation of Christ. He says, that to deny 
invocation to him, is not a simple error, or a mere mistake, 
but a most pernicious error $ an error that leads to Judaism, 
and is in effect the denying of Christ; — that it tends to 
Epicurism and Atheism. — Smalcius, another Socinian, says, 
that they are no Christians who refuse giving divine worship 
to Christ. Stillingfleet on the Trinity, p. 150. — Accord- 
ing to the same Socinian writers, Christ, after his resurrec- 
tion, reigned over all nature, and became the object of 
religious worship, Christ is placed at the right hand of God 
in heaven, and is adored even by the angels. — He hath re- 
ceived all power in heaven and in earth : and all things, 
God alone excepted, are put under his feet *. 

233. * " That at the name of Jesus every knee should 
botvf, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things 
under the earth ; and that every tongue should confess, that 
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 
Philip. 2. 10, 11. 

234. * And again : — " When he bringeth in the First- 
begotten into the world he saith, And let all the angels of 
Godtvorship him." Heb. 1. 6. 

Now, these five passages seem, at least, to enjoin the 
worship of Jesus Christ, not only upon all human beings, who 
expect salvation from hiin, but even upon all the heavenly 
host of angels and archangels. But, lest we should by any 
means mistake their meaning, and suppose they command 
us to worship the Saviour of mankind, when they really do 
not, let us further inquire, from the practice of the apostles 
and first Christians themselves, how they understood them. 

* Cata, Ecclesi, Polonicarum, sect, 4. See also Price's Sermons., 
p. 150. 

The foreign Socinians deny any to be Christians who refuse divine 
adoration and invocation to Christ. Hence they have excluded all our 
English Unitarians, as the Socinians here call themselves, from being Chris- 
tians, who deny this to Christ. 

See Leslie's Short and Easy Method with the Jews, and the Eacov. 
cat. sect. 6. c. 1. 

t Minutius F elix, when speaking of the worshipping of Jesus Christ 
and his cross, whom the Heathens denominated a criminal, says, " You 
strangely err from the way of truth, when you imagine, either that a 
criminal can deserve to be taken for a Deity, or that a mere man can 
possibly be a God. Octavius, Sect. 29. 

Q 2 



228 



DEITY OF JKSU3. 



PART III. 



If they have left us any clear and satisfactory evidence of 
their own conduct respecting the worship of Jesus Christ, 
this must be final and conclusive. We can go no farther. 
We must either submit our judgments and practice to their 
decisions, or form a religion for ourselves, and remain irr a 
state of infidelity. 

We have the same kind of commands for the worship of 
Jesus Christ in some of the writers who immediately fol- 
lowed the Apostles. Ignatius says to the church of Rome— 
" Pray to Christ for me, that by the beasts I may be found a 
sacrifice to God." And to the church of Smyrna he has this 
declaration — " If Jesus Christ shall make me worthy by your 
prayer." — The justly celebrated Origen has spoken pretty 
much at large upon the worship of our blessed Saviour, and 
vindicated it from the cavils of Celsus. "Therefore," says he, 
" we worship the Father of truth, and the Son, who is the 
truth, two things in personal subsistence, but one in agree- 
ment, and consent, and identity of will : so that whoever 
sees the Son, who is the brightness of the glory of God, and 
the express image of his person, sees God in him, as being 
the true image of God. Now Celsus imagines, that because 
together with God we worship his Son, it follows upon our 
own principles, &c. — We worship one God, and his only 
Son, and Word, and Image, with supplications and prayers 
to the utmost of our power, offering our prayers to 
God over all by his only-begotten Son ; to whom we first 
present them, beseeching him, who is the propitiation for 
our sins, as our High Priest, to offer our prayers, and sacri- 
fices, and intercessions to God the Lord of all things. 
Therefore our faith relies only upon God, by his Son, who 
confirms it in us. — We worship the Father whilst we admire 
and adore the Son, who is his Word, and Wisdom, and 
Truth, and Righteousness *. w 

235 * Dying Stephen prayed to the Lord Jesus Christ 
— * Lord Jesus, receive my spirit !" 

236.* Lord, lay not this sin to their charge ! Acts 7. 
59, 60. 

Bishop Burnet on the Articles, p. 48. justly observes, 
that, Stephen here worships Christ, in the very same man- 
ner in which Christ had but a little while before wor- 
* See Bioghara's Antiquities, b. 13. cfc. 2. p. 14, 



sect. 7. Invocation of his Name. 229 

shipped his Father on the cross *. The Bishop adds, From 
this it is evident, that if Christ was not the true God, and 
equal to the Father, then this protomartyr died in two acts 
that seem not only idolatrous, but also blasphemous ; since 
he worshipped Christ in the same acts in which Christ had 
worshipped his Father. 

237 * St. Paul prayed to the Lord Jesus Christ three 
times upon one occasion : — " Lest I should be exalted above 
measure through the abundance of the revelations, there 
was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of 
Satan to buffet me. For this thing I besought the Lord 
thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, 
My grace is sufficient for thee ; for my strength is made 
perfect in weakness." 2 Cor. 12. 7 — 9- 

If it be asked, who is meant by the Lord? it seems most 
probable from the context, that it was not God the Father, 
but f Jesus Christ. 

For the Lord answered Paul, and spake to him ; but 
God the Father never thus appeared and manifested himself 
in this manner. All the visible or audible manifestations of 
God, of which mention is made in the Scriptures of the Old 
Testament, seem to have been appearances of the Word 
or the Son of God, acting and speaking in his Father's 
name ; as after the incarnation he acted and spake in his 
own person ; as when he appeared to Stephen, to Paul, and 
to other Saints and Disciples. In this the ancient Christians 
and most of the moderns are agreed; except those who 
admit not the pre-existence of Christ, as the Word or the 
Son of God. But they who are not influenced by this 
hypothesis will find no cause to reject this very old and pro- 
bable opinion f. 

238.* And it came to pass, that when I was come again 
to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a 
trance; and saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and 
get thee quickly out of Jerusalem ; for they will not receive 
thy testimony concerning me. And I said, Lord, they 
know that I imprisoned, and beat in every synagogue them 
that believed on thee. And when the blood of thy martyr 

* See Doddridge on the place, t Schlictingius, and other Socinians 
allow that this is a prayer directed to Jesus Christ. 

t Jortin vol. 4. p 218. 

q3 



230 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART III. 



Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting 
unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. 
And he said unto me, Depart : for I will send thee far 
hence unto the Gentiles." Acts 22. 17 — 21. — Here is an 
undoubted example of direct prayer to the Lord Jesus, after 
he had left our world, and had been in glory for a consider- 
able time. 

239. * " He that in righteousness, peace, and joy in the 
Holy Ghost serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and ap- 
proved of men." Rom. 14. 17, 18. Does not this expres- 
sion imply religious adoration to Christ ? 

240. * " Servants, be obedient to them that are your 
masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in 
singleness of your heart, as unto Christ : not with eye- 
service, as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, 
doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing 
that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall 
receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free." Eph. 6. 
5 — 8. In a similar passage in the epistle to the Colossians 
he adds, " For ye serve the Lord Christ." Col. 3. 24. All 
that I mean to infer from these two scriptures, is, that 
Christ is the Lord of the consciences of men, and entitled 
to the religious homage of his servants. 

241. * " I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath ena- 
bled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into 
the ministry." 1 Tim. 1. 12. This is plainly a form of 
thanksgiving to our Lord and Saviour. 

242. " Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God 
even our Father, who hath loved us, and hath given us ever- 
lasting consolation, and good hope through grace, comfort 
your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work." 
2 Thess. 2. 16, 17* If the latter is a prayer to God the 
Father, the former is a prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ. 

The writings of this Apostle do indeed abound with 
prayers to Jesus Christ as well as the Father : — 

243* "Grace to you and peace from — the Lord Jesus 
Christ" Rom. 1. 7- 

244. * " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with 
you. Amen." Rom. 16. 20. 

245. * " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with 
you all. Amen." Rom. 16. 24. 



-SECT. 7- 



Invocation of his Name, 



231 



In short ; this Apostle, in the course of his fourteen 
Epistles, repeats these, or such like prayers to Jesus Christ 
upwards of twenty times. Three times also he plainly calls 
Christ to witness the truth of what he said, which surely he 
would not have done, unless he had believed him to be 
omniscient, and so a proper object of prayer. Several times, 
moreover, he offers up prayers and praises to the Lord, in 
a way which leaves it doubtful whether he meant the Father, 
or the Son : Yet once, at least, he seems to have ascribed 
glory to the Son : 

246. * " The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, 
and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom : to whom, 
be glory for ever and ever. Amen." 2 Tim. 4. 18. 

247. * St. Peter opens his ministry with prayer, and 
closes ;t with praise, to Jesus Christ : — " Thou Lord" 
said he on the former occasion, " which knoivest the hearts 
of all men* shew whether of these two thou hast chosen." 
Acts 1. 24, 25. 

248. * And on the latter, " Grow in grace, and in the 
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ : to whom 
be glory both now and for ever. Amen." 2 Pet. 3. 18. 

249. * St. John also has some ascriptions of praise to 
the Redeemer, similar to several of those which are gone 
before : — " Grace be with you, mercy and peace from the 
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father." 2 John 3. 

250. * Again: — a Grace he unto you and peace— from 
Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness." Rev. 1. 5. 

251. * Again :-— " Come, Lord Jesus " Rev. 22.20, 

252. * Again : — a The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 
be with you all. Amen." Rev. 22. 21. 

253. * And again : — " Unto him that loved us, and 
washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us 
kings and priests unto God and bis Father, to him be glory 
and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." — Rev. 1. 5,6*. 
After the religious homage which these several addresses 
present to the Lord Jesus Christ, it may be observed, that 
all the apostles worshipped the Son of God at one and the 
same time. 

* Several of these passages I have introduced on a former occasion,, and 
may do the same again, but as every introduction is with a view somewhat 
different, I trust the reader will pardon the repetition. 



232 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART III. 



254.* " And Jesus led the apostles out as far as Bethany* 
and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came 
to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and 
carried up into heaven. — And they worshipped him, and 
returned to Jerusalem with great joy." Luke 24. 50 — 52. 
" We read of many persons, who, when Christ was upon 
earth, falling down upon their faces, and worshipping him, 
were never checked or reproved for so doing, as John was, 
when he offered to worship the angel, and Cornelius, when 
he made the same offer to Peter."* 

But it is by no means necessary that we should 
prove the worship of our Redeemer to have been the 
practice of the apostles by an induction of particulars ; for 
it is as clear as any thing well can be, that this was the com- 
mon practice of all Christians ; and the very badge of their 
belonging to Christ. The following scriptures will justify 
these assertions : — 

255 * "To bind all that call on thy name"' Acts 9. 14. 

256.* " Destroyed them who called on this name" 
Acts 9.21. 

257-* " Follow righteousness, faith, charitj, peace, 
with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." 2 Tim. 
2. 22. 

Some critics tell us, that the phrase nc^cckH^vim to ovo^a 
X|ijT«, calling upon the name of Christ, is to be taken pas- 
sively, as denoting those who were named by the name of 
Christ, or who were called Christians. But this cannot be. 
The name Christian, was not known in the world, till some 
time after Paul's conversion, when, as Luke expressly informs 
us, the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch ; 
whereas, before that time, they were distinguished by the 
title of s?r*xfiA»juCTD* to ovo^oc X§tsTs, those who called on the 
name of Christ. Besides that tvt*utep.tvu 3 when followed by 
an accusative case, always, signifies to invoke, or worship, 
except only where it signifies to appeal to. Thus, The same 
Lord is rich to all who call upon him — for whosoever shall 
call on the name of the Lord shall he saved. — Saul is bid- 
den to ivash away his sins, calling on the name of the 
Lord, — And Origen, who must have understood the import 



* Home's sixteen sermons, p. 176. 



sect. 7 . Invocation of Ms Name. 



233 



and force of a Greek participle, at least as well as any modern 
critic, commenting on one of the above cited passages, says, 
The apostle in these words, declares him to be God, whose 
name was called upon *" The argument, therefore, dedu- 
ced from this expression, we may venture to say, stands good; 
nor can it admit of any farther reply, or evasion. J" 

258.* " The same Lord over all is rich unto all that 
call upon him. For whosoever shall call on the name of the 
Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him, in 
whom they have not believed ?" Rom. 10. 12 — 14. This 
scripture, as Dr. Whitby well remarks upon it, presents us 
with a double argument in favour of our Lords divinity. 
First, it applies to him, what by the prophet Joel is spoken 
of JEHOVAH 5 secondly, it affirms him to be the object 
of religious adoration. 

Porphyry, an infidel and an enemy of Christ, and of all 
Christians, who lived in the third century, acknowledges, 
that after Christ was worshipped, no body experienced any 
public benefit from the godsf. 

We find Christ worshipped as Lord, throughout the most 
distant countries of the world§. 

"Tacitus and others attest, that very many were punished 
because they professed the ivorship of Christ \\." — The same 
very learned man observes still farther, that " there were 
always very many amongst the worshippers of Christ, who 
were men of good judgment, and of no small learning||||." If 
Christ is only a man, says Novatian, how is he every where 
present to those who call upon him, since this is not the na- 
ture of man but of God, that he can be present in every 
place. — If Christ is only a man, why does man invoke him 
in prayer as mediator, since the invocation of a man must be 
considered as ineffectual to the accomplishing deliverance 
and salvation ? If Christ is nothing more than a mere man, 
why is our hope put in him, seeing — cursed is the hope that 
is placed in man§§." The present Jew reads how his 
ancestors saw him (Jesus Christ) adored by the Christians, 
in the first century ; and he proves it from the Talmud, 



* Com. in Rom. 10. lib, 8. 
t Euseb.Praep. lib. 5. cap. 3. 
,J| Ibid. lib. 2. sect. 3. 
§ § De Trinit. cap. 14. 



t Home's sixteen sermons, p. 172, 173» 
$ Grotius de Verit. lib. 2, sect. 2. 
|| || Ibid. sect. 4. 



234 



DEITY OF JEStJS. 



PART III, 



wherein are divers relations of R. Eliezer, the great friend of 
R. Akiba, who lived in the end of the first century, and the 
beginning of the second century, concerning the gospels, and 
the public worship rendered to Jesus Christ by the Chris- 
tians.* 

259.* " Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, 
to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be 
saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of 
Jesus Christ our Lord, both their Lord and ours." 1 Cor. 
1. 2. 

The practice of praying to Jesus Christ was continued 
by the immediate followers of the apostles, and it appears 
from various evidence to have been the common, well-known 
practice among them. For even Pliny, the Roman, was no 
stranger to it, since he tells the emperor Trajan, that it was 
the custom of the Christians to sing an hymn to Christ as 
God every morning. — Polycarp, in the introduction to his 
Epistle to the Philippians, prays that mercy and peace may 
he " multiplied to them from Almighty God, and from our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." — Ignatius to the Magne- 
sians wishes them health from God the Father, and our Lord 
Jesus Christ. — In his epistle to the Romans he says, "Health 
in our Lord Jesus Christ, our God." — In that to the church 
of Smyrna, " Health in the immaculate Spirit, and the 
Word of God." Again : — " I glorify Jesus Christ our God, 
who hath given unto you this wisdom." — The church of 
Smyrna, in her circular Letter to all Christians, prays, that 
C( mercy, peace, and love may be multiplied to them from 
God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ." And that we 
may not take these salutations for mere good wishes without 
any thing in them of the proper nature of prayer, the same 
church in the same epistle saith, tc They could not leave 
Christ and worship any other." Moreover, Justin Martyr 
speaks still more clearly, if possible, than these : — " God," 
says he, " and his only-begotten Son, together with the 
Spirit, we worship and adore/' And again : — " Next after 
the unbegotten and ineffable God, we adore and love him who 
is the Word of God ; because that for our sakes he became 
man, and was made partaker of our sufferings, that he might 
heal us." 

* Allix's Judgment, p. 432. 



SECT. 7. 



Invocation of his Name. 



235 



And again : — " We know Jesus Christ to be the Son of 
the true God, and therefore hold him to he the second in or- 
der, and the prophetic Spirit the third, and that we have 
good reason for worshipping in this subordination, I shall 
shew hereafter*." Again : — " The leaders of these sects 
have each, in their different ways, taught their followers to 
blaspheme the Maker of the Universe, and him, who by his 
prophets he had foretold should come, Christ, the God of 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob : with whom we hold no com- 
munion, knowing them to be dishonourers of God and reli- 
gion, and despisers of the laws : who, acknowledging Jesus 
in name only, refuse to pay him divine worshipf." 

Again : — " The scriptures expressly declare, that Christ 
was to suffer, and is to be worshipped, and is God J." 

Irenaeus saith, that every knee should bow to Christ 
Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and King, according 
to the good pleasure of the invisible Father||." 

Origen again is very express to the same purpose, and 
even gives us several of his own prayers to the Son of God : 
We must pray, says he, to the Lord Jesus, and the 
Holy Spirit, that he would take away that mist and darkness 
which is contracted by the filth of our sins, and dims the 
sight of our souls. And again : — I must pray to the 
Lord Jesus, that when I seek, he would grant me to find, 
and open to me when I knock. Again : — " Let us pray 
from our hearts to the Word of God, who is the only-begot- 
ten of the Father, that reveals him to whom he will, that he 
would vouchsafe toreveal these things unto us. — And again 
in one of his homilies he addresses himself to the Saviour in 
these words : — "O Lord Jesus, grant that I may be found 
worthy to have some monument of me in thy tabernacle. I 
could wish to offer gold, or silver, or precious stones with 
the princes of the people : but because these things are 
above me, let me at least be thought worthy to have goats* 
hair in the tabernacle of God, only that I may not in all 
things be found empty andunfruitful§. It may be observed 
too, that Origen has more than one hundred homilies which 
conclude with doxologies to the Son or the Holy Ghost. 



* Justin Martyr's two Apologies, passim. 

t Dial, cum Tryp. ed. Thrilb. p. 207. t Ibid. 

Jj Lib. 1. cap. 2. § Bingham's Antiquities, b. 13. c. 2. p. 5<2. 



236 



DEITY OP JESUS. 



PART III. 



I add farther, that this learned man has spoken expressly 
upon this very text of scripture, and put its genuine meaning 
past all doubt : — " The Jews," says he, " have not believed 
in Christ, and therefore do not call upon him whom they 
have not believed, Rom. 10. 14. But in the beginning of 
the epistle which he (Paul) wrote to the Corinthians, where 
he says, With all who, in every place, call upon the name 
of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours, he pro- 
nounces Jesus Christ, whose name is there called upon, to 
be God. If therefore Enos, Gen. 4. 26, and Moses, and 
Aaron, and Samuel, called upon the Lord, and he heard 
them — Ps. 99. 6. — without question they called upon the 
name of Christ Jesus. And if to call upon the name of 
the Lord, and to adore God, be one and the same thing, like 
as Christ is called upon, Christ also is to be adored ; and as 
We first of all address our prayers to God the Father, so like- 
wise to the Lord Jesus Christ ; and as we prefer our petitions 
to the Father, so likewise we prefer our petitions to the Son, 
and as we render our thanksgiving to God, so we likewise 
render thanksgiving to our Saviour : for the holy scripture 
teaches that one honour shall be ascribed to both, that is, to 
God the Father and the Son, when it says, that all men 
should honour the Son even as they honour the Father, 
John 5.23*. 

Tertullian, a little before the age of Origen, assures us, 
the invocation and worship of Christ was the practice of all 
the Christian world. The kingdom and the name of Christ, 
says he, are extended without limits ; he is every where be- 
lieved in ; he is worshipped in all nations ; he reigns every 
where ; he is every where adored ; he is in all places equally 
offered to the acceptance of all ; he is to all a King ; to all 
a Judge ; to all a God, and Lordf. Cyprian frequently 
speaks of the same practice : — " We offer up unceasing 
thanks to God the Father Almighty, and to his Christ, our 
Lord, God, and Saviour, for his divine protection of the 
churchy." Again : — " We shall not cease to give thanks to 
God the Father, and to Christ his Son, our Lord§." Again : 
€i God the v Father," says he, " commanded that his Son 
should be worshipped : and the apostle Paul, mindful of the 

$ In Epist, ad Rom. lib. 8 t t Adv. JudaBOS, cap. 7. 
i Epist. 51. £ Epist, 61. 



SECT. 7 



Invocation oj his Name. 



237 



divine command, says accordingly ; God hath exalted him, 
and hath given him a name which is above every name ; 
that at the name of Jesus every knee should how, of things 
in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. 
And in the Revelation, when John would have worshipped 
the angel, he forbade him, saying, See thou do it not, for I 
am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren ; worship the 
Lord Jesus\\" 

Nor is the worship of Jesus Christ peculiar to the church 
militant : for even the church triumphant is everlastingly 
exercised in the same blessed employ. 

260. * " And when Jesus had taken the book, the four 
beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before the 
Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full 
of odours, which are the prayers of saints ; and they sung a 
new song, saying, Thou art worthy — for thou wast slain, and 
hast redeemed us to God by thy blood — and hast made us 
unto our God kings and priests ; and we shall reign on the 
earth. And I beheld, and 1 heard the voice of many angels 
roundabout the throne, and the beasts, and the elders : and 
the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand ; 
saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that ivas 
slain, to receive power, and riches, and ivisdom, and 
strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every 
creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the 
earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, 
heard I, saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, 
be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb 
for ever and ever." Rev. 5. 8 — 13. — 7« 10. 

261. * And again : — " Salvation to our God which sit- 
teth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." 

Such is the evidence contained in holy scripture for the 
religious adoration of our Lord and Saviour. How it may 
affect the mind of other readers I cannot say. But to me it 
appears to contain no less than a theological demonstration, 
as we observed before, that Jesus is entitled to divine ho- 
nours. And we are told Socinus himself was so affected 
with it, that though he believed the Son of God to be no 
more than a mere man, he could scarce consider them as 
Christians, who with-held adoration from him. He should 



* De Bono Patieatiae, 



238 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART III. 



have gone two or three steps farther, and concluded, that if 
Jesus Christ is entitled to divine honours, then he is possessed 
of a divine nature : and if he is possessed of a divine nature, 
then he must be ineffably one with his heavenly Father ; 
seeing both reason and scripture declare, there is but one 
living and true God. This seems to follow from what the 
apostle says, Gal. 4. 8. For to worship any being as God, 
that is not by nature God, is idolatry. Yea, all religious 
worship is strictly appropriated to God only : Thou shalt 
ivorship the Lord thy God> and him only shalt thou serve, 3 ' 
Mat. 4. 10. Since then the Lord Jesus has been, and is to 
be adored, upon the highest authority, we thence infer, upon 
the same authority, that he is of the same nature and essence 
with his heavenly Father*. 

* Consult what Bishop Burnet has said upon the worship of Christ in 
his exposition of the second of the thirty-nine articles of the Church of 
England. It appears to me extremely satisfactory. 



SECT. 8. 



The Testimony of Paid. 



239 



PART THIRD, 

SECTION VIIL 

THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST ARGUED FROM VARIOUS PAS, 
SAGES IN THE WRITINGS OF PAUL. 



Paul speaks of two natures in the person of Christ. — Con- 
trasts his human and divine natures. — Quotations from 
eminent writers. — Jesus the LORD OF GLOR Y : — 
the LORD from heaven. — The curse of infidelity. — 
Our Lord Jesus became incarnate, and died for the 
salvation of mankind. — Passages from various authors 
— Titles applied to Jesus. — His infinite glory, as the 
GREAT GOD OUR SAVIOUR. 

It is now time to proceed to the consideration of such 
other passages of the writings of Paul, as have not yet come 
under our notice. And as all the epistles of this wonderful 
man were written within the compass of the last ten or 
twelve years of his life, it will not be necessary to attend scru- 
pulously to the order of time in which they were composed ; 
we will therefore produce them in the order which may he 
thought most convenient, and make such observations as na- 
turally arise in the mind upon the perusal of them. Not 
that we undertake to press into this service every text that 
might be alledged, but only such as are most material and 
prominent. For there is a certain dignity of style, with 



240. 



PRE-EXISTENCE OF JESUS. 



PART III. 



numberless inimitable touches in the compositions of afl the 
sacred writers, especially in the works of David, Isaiah, John 
and Paul, which every competent reader will easily feel, but 
which the most competent cannot so easily explain. In all 
their writings and discourses they proceed upon this general 
principle, " That Jesus was the Son of God," as well as 
" The Son of man and though they were not able to illus- 
trate the full meaning of that mixed character, which he 
sustained solely for the salvation of the world, yet the con- 
viction naturally affected all their language with a certain 
peculiarity of phrase, suitable to such high and exalted con- 
ceptions. The pious and learned Christian sees and feels 
these fine traits of sentiment, while the common reader is 
attentive only to the more obvious declarations, which force 
themselves upon his attention, as he passes along. It is to 
these, ^therefore, we shall confine our present observations, 
leaving the reader to reject or admit them as he judges expe- 
dient. Nothing but truth can stand long, and no man 
ought to wish for the establishment of error. Whatever, 
therefore, in any of these strictures is not agreeable to the 
genuine meaning and intention of God in his word; I most 
cordially disavow, even though it should extend to the sub- 
version of my whole system. — But to proceed. 

The passages in the writings of this apostle, which most 
forcibly affect the mind, on the subject of Christ's higher na- 
ture, may be these that follow : 

265. In the first chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, 
there is a remarkable passage relating to the point under 
consideration. -—"His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was 
made of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and de- 
clared to be the Son of God with power, according to the 
spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead," Rom. 
1. 3, 4. 

Here is a contrast between the two natures of Christ, the 
term flesh denoting his human nature, and the spirit of holi- 
ness his divine ; for the word spirit is used frequently by 
the earliest Christian writers to denote the divine nature of 
Christ*, And by understanding the passage in this manner, 
the contrast is kept up between flesh and spirit. 

* See the testimonies of Grotius, on Mark 2. 8. To which the learned 
Bishop Bull has added others, Def, N. F. p 19. aud brought several texts 



SECT. S. 



The Testimony of Paul. 



241 



266. * A similar contrast is observable in other passages 
of scripture. Peter says, " Therefore being a prophet, and 
knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of 
the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise 
up Christ to sit on his throne/' Acts 2. 30. — " So the 
apostle teaches concerning his two natures : Who was made, 
says he, of the seed of David ; this will be man, and the 
Son of man : who is declared the Son of God according to 
the Spirit, this will be God, and the Word, the Son of God. 
We see a double state, not confused, but joined in one 
person, Jesus, God and man." — Tertul. adv. Prax. cap. 27. 
But that is the most remarkable passage in the 9th chapter 
of this same epistle. 

267. * " Of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, 
who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen." Rom, 9. 5. 
This celebrated text is decisive upon the subject of Christ's 
divinity, and therefore all possible pains are taken by the 
Socinians to evade the force of it. Dr. Clarke also has tam- 
pered with it in the beginning of his observations upon the 
passage, but in the close he seems to grant all again, that 
the most orthodox can desire. Indeed, no honest arts are 
equal to the business. The expressions are so full, and the 
contrast between the human and divine natures of the Re- 
deemer so strong, that we must either quite give up the 
question, or suppose with Dr. Priestley, that this is one of 
those many places where " Paul reasons inconclusively 1"* 
Dr. Doddridge says, I must render, and paraphrase, and 
improve this memorable text, as a proof of Christ's proper 
Deity, which, I think, the opposers of that doctrine have 
never been able, nor will ever be able, to answer;);." — Mr. 
Gilpen says, No criticisms on the original have been able 
to overthrow its force in proving the divinity of Christ. — 

of scripture to confirm them. Mark 2. 8. 1 Tim. 3. 16. Heb. 9. 14. 
1 Pet. 3. 18. See too Waterland's Importance of the doctrine of the Holy 
Trinity, p. 303. where he produces the sentiments of the fathers, 

Clemens Romanushas a similar distinction ;— From him (Abraham) 
came our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the flesh. From him came the 
kings, and princes, and rulers in Judah." Epist. 1. sect, 52. The dis- 
tinction made between Christ, and the other persons mentioned, is remark- 
able, and strongly implies a difference in their natures. 

* See Clarke's scripture doctrine, p, 75. See also the excellent observa- 
tions of Whitby on the place. $ Family Expositor on the place. 

R 



242 



PRE-EXISTENCE OP JESUS. 



PART ir-r. 



" The title of God over all, generally reserved to the Father, 
yet is applied the Son too, by all the ante-nicene fathers, as 
well as the post-nicene, in their interpretation of the ninth 
chapter of the Romans and fifth verse ; but still God off God*." 
u Never any ancient Christian, interpreter, or expositor, or any 
other writer, did otherwise understand this text, but of Christ; 
and not only catholics, but even heretics and schismatics, &c.f" 
Ignatius seems to allude to this text more that once : — "Our 
God, Jesus Christ," says he, "was, according to the dispen- 
sation of God, conceived in the womb of Mary, of the seed 
of David, by the Holy Ghost J." Again : — " Gather your- 
selves together in the love of Jesus Christ, who, according to 
the flesh, is of the race of David, the Son of man, and the 
Son of God§." 

Irenaeus, speaking of the generation of Jesus Christ, says, 
that he is called God ivith us, lest by any means we should 
conceive that he was only a man. For the Word was made 
flesh, not by the will of man, but by the will of God. Nor 
should we indeed surmise Jesus to have been another, but 
know him to be one and the same God. This very thing 
Paul has interpreted.-— And again writing to the Romans 
concerning Israel, he saith, Whose are the fathers, and of 
whom Christ came, according to the flesh, who is God over 
all, blessed for ever\\. Tertullian says, Of whom Christ came 
who is God over all blessed for every age%. Again :— Paul 
also hath called Christ very God ; " Whose are the fathers, 
and of whom Christ came according to the flesh, who is over 
all God blessed for evei%%," St. Cyprian, in his second book 
against the Jews, produces this text in proof of the divinity 
of Christ : — Whose are the fathers, of whom according to 
the flesh Christ came, who is overall God blessed for ever ||[|. 

* VideFidde's Theol. Specul. vol. 1. 383, 384, 385, 399, 428, and 
424. t Dr. Grabe on Whiston's Testimonies, p. 23. See also Bishop 

Bull's Works, vol. 3. p. 944 t $ Ep, and Ephes. $ Ibid. 

|| Adv. Hair. lib. 3, cap. 18. % Adv. Prax. cap. 13. 

«[ 1[ Ibid. cap. 15. 

|| || Lib 2. cap. 6, Let the reader who has any remaining doubts on his 
mind concerning the anthenticity, or application of this celebrated text, 
consult the following authors upon it, in addition to those already men- 
tioned ; — Namely, 

Waterland's eight sermons, p, 421—424. Stillingfleet on the Trinity, 
p. 38— 153,and 193. Marshall's St. Cyprian, p. 33. note. Knowles's 
Primitive Christianity, p. 55 and 80. Dawson on the Logos, p. 38. 
Burgh's sequel, p. 23 23. Mills on the place. Bull's Defence, p. 78^ 



SECT. 8. 



The Testimony of Paul. 



243 



We have a remarkable testimony of the same kind in the 
small treatise of Novatian on the Trinity, which I shall pro- 
duce at some length " But if," says he, "when it belongs 
to God alone to know the secrets of the heart, Christ looks 
into the secrets of the heart : but if, when it belongs to God 
alone to forgive sins, the same Christ forgives sins : but if 
when it f is not the possible act of any man to come from 
heaven, Christ in his advent descended from heaven : but 
if, when no man can utter this sentence, land my Father 
are one, Christ alone, from a consciousness of his divinity, 
declared it : but if, lastly, the apostle Thomas, when fur- 
nished with all the proofs and evidences of the divinity of 
Christ, answering, said unto Christ, "My Lord and my God." 
But if the apostle Paul too in his writings says, Whose are 
the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ 
came, who is over all God Messed for ever. But if the same 
person publishes himself to have been constituted an apostle 
not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ. But if 
the same Paul contend for it, that he did not learn the gos- 
pel from men, neither receive it by man, but by Jesus Christ; 
Christ is worthily God*." 

268.* " He that spared not his own Son, but delivered 
him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us 
all things? Rom. 8. 32. There is, says Mr. Blackwell, a great 
emphasis on the words spared not his own son, which cannot 
with any propriety, be applied to any mere man, or most 
glorious creature whatever. His own son, is by way of emi- 
nence and distinction from those who were sons of God by 
adoption, and the grace of his own natural Son : and the 
Father not sparing him, supposes an antecedent relation of the 
highest kindness and most sacred endearment J." This 
wonderful declaration, like that in the third of John and 
16th verse, intimates infinitely more than can be expressed 
by any human tongue, and plainly proceeds upon the suppo- 
sition, that there is something very peculiar, and far sur- 
passing simple humanity in the nature and person of Jesus. 

" God, we find, hath chosen to express the relation 
which the second person bears to the first, by that of a son 

Petavius, lib. 2, cap. 9. p. 154. Pearson on the Creed, p. 132, Randolph's 
Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity, part 2. p. 16. 22. And Gnomon 
Bengelii in loco. 

* DeTrint, lib, 13. X Sacred Classics, yol, l.p. 27f. 

R 2 



244 PRE-EXISTENCE OP JESUS. PART III. 

to a father. The first person is called the Father, the second 
the " Son of God— his own Son — his beloved Son — his one 
Son — his well-beloved — his dear Son — his only begotten 
Son." This title must certainly import something analagous 
to the relation between an earthly father and son: and 
the most natural and obvious sense of it denotes an equality 
of nature*." 

Upon the hypothesis that he was a mere man, these 
two, and, indeed, all similar declarations, lose the whole of 
their force and significance. For what is there so remark- 
ably endearing in the consideration of God's giving up a 
man like ourselves to extreme sufferings and disgrace, when 
he had already acted in a similar manner, in every instance 
where virtuous characters had fallen into the hands of unrea- 
sonable and wicked men ? Or what was there so condes- 
cending in the conduct of Jesus, when he knew the infinite 
reward that was set before him ? But if Jesus was the real 
and proper Son of God, in a manner no other being ever was 
or can be, the love of God in not sparing him, and the 
condescension of Christ in leaving the infinite beatitude of 
heaven, taking upon him human nature, and dying to redeem 
the apostate sons of Adam, are conspicuous, and the decla- 
rations of Jesus and of Paul are inexpressibly proper, tender, 
and pathetic. 

269. * " Had they known it, they would not have cruci- 
fied the Lord of glory f." 1 Cor. 2. 8.— If this title of Jesus 
be compared with the title " King of glory," in the twenty- 
fourth psalm, and the description there given, it will appear 
to hi a name of great weight and significancy. The expres- 
sion, moreover, implies that he was the Lord of glory, 
prior to his crucifixion, otherwise the whole force of it 
vanishes ; or rather, the expression becomes unsuitable to 
the apostle's argument. 

270* "The first man is of the earth, earthy ; the se- 
cond man is the Lord from heaven" 1 Cor. 15. 47. — 
" St. Paul calls Jesus Christ the Adam from above, shewing 
that he followed the notions of the Jews, who call the She- 
kinah, the Adam from above, the heavenly Adam, the Adam 
blessed, which are the titles that they give only to GodJ." 

* Dr. Randolph, in his Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity, N 
part. 2. p. 10— 13. 1 See Waterland's eight sermons, p. 232. jAllix's Judg. 

p. 336. 



SECT. 8. 



The Testimony of Paul. 



245 



As Adam was originally from the earth, so Christ was origi- 
nally from heaven. And his dominion, as well as origin, is 
strongly expressed by the apostle's saying, " The second 
man is the Lord from heaven." This text, therefore, ac- 
cording to every fair construction, leaves us no room to 
doubt concerning the pre-existence of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ, and implies at the same time that he was in 
possession of dominion before he came into the world. 

271. * " Now that he ascended, what is it but that he 
also descended first into the lower parts of the earth ? He 
that descended, is the same also that ascended up far above 
all heavens, that he might fill all things." Ep. 4. 9, 10. — 
The apostle here asserts the original pre-existence^ and the 
present immensity of the Saviour of mankind. 

272. * "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, 
let him be Anathema, Maranatha" 1 Cor. 16. 22. The 
manner in which the apostle here speaks of the necessity of 
our love to Christ, implies his having a claim to our affection 
above any merely human being. It intimates great merit on 
the part of Christ, and vast obligation on the part of man. 

Our blessed Lord, says an able vindicator of his dignity 
and honour, hath done great and wonderful things for us. 
If our respect, duty, and gratitude happen, through our igno- 
rance and excessive zeal, to rise too high ; this is the over- 
flowing of our good natured qualities, and may seem a pitiable 
failing. But, on the other hand, if we happen to fall short 
in our regards, there is not only ingratitude, but blasphemy 
in it. It is degrading and dethroning our Maker, Preserver, 
King, and Judge ; and bringing him down to a level with his 
creatures. — Besides, we have many express cautions given 
us in scripture, not to be wanting in our respects and services 
towards God the Son; but have no particular cautions against 
honouring him too much. We know that we ought to 
honour him even as ive honour the. Father : which, if it 
be an ambiguous expression, we are very excusable in taking 
it in the best sense, and interpreting on the side of precept. 
We know that by dishonouring the Son, we do, at the same 
time, dishonour the Father ? but we are no where told, that 
the Father will resent it as a dishonour done to himself, if we 
should chance, out of our scrupulous regards to the Father 

R 3 



246 



FRE-EXISTENCE OF JESUS. 



PART III. 



and Son both, to pay the Son more honour than strictly be- 
longs to him. On these and the like considerations (especi- 
ally when we have so many and so great appearances of truth, 
and such a cloud of authorities to countenance us in it) the 
error, if it be one, seems to be an error on the right hand*. 

273 * "All things are of God, who hath reconciled us 
to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry 
of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling 
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto 
them ; and hath committed unto us the word of reconcilia- 
tion. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though 
God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, 
be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be 
sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made 
the righteousness of God in him." 2 Cor. 5. 18. 21. 

This is a very rich and important passage, and can never 
be seriously read, without the most grateful wonder and 
affection to those adorable Persons, who have pitied our 
ruined state, and interposed for our salvation. To accomplish 
this great purpose the deity and atonement of Christ are abso- 
lutely necessary, and are not obscurely intimated in these 
wordsf.. 

There are several passages in the writings of the apostles 
which strongly imply some transaction that took place in 
behalf of man before the foundation of the world. In this 
transaction there were more than one person concerned. 
These surely, from the whole tenor of scripture, could have 
been no other than the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, 
let their specific natures be what they may. The passages 
are these :■ — 

274.* " Whom he did foreknow he also did predesti- 
nate to be conformed to the image of his Son." Rom. 8= 
29. — " The mystery which was kept secret since the world 
began." Ibid. 16*. 25. — "God hath chosen us in Christ 
before the foundation of the world." Ep. 1. 14. — "The 
eternal purpose which God purposed in Christ Jesus." Ibid. 
3. 11. — " In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot 
lie promised before the world began." Tit. 1. 2. — " Christ 

* Waterland's Defence of Queries, p. 476, 477. t See Dr. Whitby 
o« this passage ? and Jones on the Trinity, p, 13, 14, 



SECT. 8. 



The Testimony of Paul, 



247 



was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, but 
was manifest in these last times." 1 Pet. 1. 20. Compare 
2 Tim. 1. 9, 10. — From a comparison of these several passa- 
ges I infer the pre-existence of the Son of God, and that he 
was in being before the creation of the vast frame of nature. 
If so, what comes of the Socinian hypothesis* ? 

275.* Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that 
though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that 
ye through his poverty might be made richj;. 2 Cor. 8. 9. 

The glorious pre-existence of Christ is here strongly 
asserted, according to that other signal text of the same 
apostle 5 " Who, being in the form of God, thought it not 
robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no repu- 
tation, and took upon him the form of a servant. Ye know" 
says he, "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." The cha- 
racter of Jesus was no new thing to the Corinthians. They 
were well acquainted with the dignity and glory he possessed 
before he assumed human nature. 

Dr. Price asks— When did our Lord possess riches ? 
When did he exchange riches for poverty, in order to make 
us rich ? In this world he was always poor and persecuted. 
— Origen says, Christ Jesus, when he was rich, became 
poor ; and therefore he chose for a mother, of whom he 
should be born, a poor woman, and for the place of his na- 
tivity, a poor town, of which it is said, And thou, Bethlehem, 
&cf. 

This passage is, in my opinion, says Mr. Hawker, no 
inconsiderable argument to prove, that the earliest christians, 
and in the days of the apostles themselves, were not unbe- 
lievers in our Lord's divinity, but orthodox in this great 
article of our faith. For the apostle writes to the Corinthians 
witlTall the confidence of one who was mentioning, not a 
novel thing, but a truth long since received and acknow- 
ledged. For had this point been at all questionable, or not 
fully credited, he surely w r ould not have said, Ye know 

* The Rev. Andrew Fuller appears to me to have decided the question 
between the Socinian and Orthodox schemes of religion, with respect to 
their moral tendency. See his book entitled, The Calvinistic and Socinian 
Systems examined and compared. 

X See Whitby on this passage. 

t InLevit. cap. 12, 13. horn. 8. ex Erasmi versione, p, 163. 



248 



P RE-EXISTENCE OF JESUS. PART III. 



what they absolutely did not know, had never heard of before, 
or perhaps denied. A presumptive evidence at least this, 
that the Corinthians were believers in this important doctrine. 
— It is impossible to reconcile the apostle's expression in 
this passage even with common sense, upon any other terms 
than the supposition, that he was writing to a body of men 
who were believers in the divinity of Jesus*/' 

On the Socinian scheme, says the learned Harwood, 
with what propriety can this be predicted of our Lord ? 
Where and when was our Saviour rich in this world ? His 
whole history contradicts this assertion. On the contrary, 
he was so poor, that he was obliged to work a miracle to sa- 
tisfy the demands of some Jewish collectors. He lived 
solely upon the beneficence of his friends. He had no place 
whereon to lay his head. To interpret this of our Lord 
being rich in miracles, and becoming poor in them at his 
crucifixion, is such a strange metaphor and mode of diction, 
as, I believe, was never employed by any writer, and such a 
jejune and forced criticism, as, I imagine, was never studied 
to explain any author. But on the hypothesis, that our 
Lord enjoyed the most exalted station before his embassy to 
our world, every thing is consistent and natural. In his 
pre-existent state he was rich in glory, honour and happiness: 
with a greatness and benevolence of soul, that can never suf- 
ficiently be extolled, he abdicated all this, and became poor, 
that we through his poverty might become rich. The 
apostle's argument to excite the liberality and beneficence 
of the Corinthians from this stupendous act and instance of 
our Lord's condescension and benevolence, upon this 
scheme only, is cogent, apposite, and very elegant and per- 
suasivef. 

27^.* " When the fulness of time was come, God 
sent forth his Son, made of a ivoman, made under the law 
to redeem them that were under the law, that we might re- 
ceive the. adoption of sons J." Gal. 4. 4, 5. Our Saviour's 

* Sermons, p, 55, ' A t Of the Socinian scheme, p, 45, 
t This language is perfectly proper on the supposition of Christ's pre- 
existence ; but very improper on the contrary supposition : for how could 
a mere man be otherwise made than of a woman ? Price's sermon, 
p. 136. 

I observe here, having omitted it in the proper place, that the first verse 
of the first chapter of this epistle, implies that our Saviour is more than a 



SECT. 8. 



The Testimony of Paul, 



249 



being made of a woman seems to allude to his miraculous 
conception, and the original promise that " The seed of 
the woman should bruise the seq^ent's head. 

277.* " The love of Christ, which passeth knowledge*." 
Eph.3. 19. Where was the extraordinary love of Christ, if he 
existed not before he was born of the virgin, and had no nature, 
higher than mere humanity? To talk of this love as surpassing 
knowledge, is to burlesque it ; seeing many of our fellow 
mortals have displayed equal affection, with motives infinite- 
ly inferior. 

278.* " Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ 
Jesus; who, being in the form of God thought it not 
robbery to be equal with God ; but made himself of no 
reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and 
was made in the likeness of men : and being found in fashion 
as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto 
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also 
hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is 
above every name : that at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and 
thing under the earth ; and that every tongue should con- 
fess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the 
Father." Philip 2. 5 — 11. In the introduction to this cele- 
brated text, the Apostle is exhorting to unity and brotherly 
love, with various other Christian graces, among the most 
conspicuous of which, are humility and self-denial. And 
in order to prevail with the people to whom he wrote more 
effectually, he sets before them the example of Jesus, shew- 
ing them how great he was originally, how low he conde- 
scended for the salvation of mankind, and what were the 
happy consequences respecting himself. So that Jesus 
Christ is evidently spoken of in these words as existing in 
three very different conditions. " He was in the form of 
God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God." 

mere man ; Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, not of man, neither by men, 
but by Jesus Christ ; Jesus Christ, therefore, must be something more than, 
or different from, simple humanity- 

* In what, according to the Socinian scheme, consisted that love of 
Christ which passes knowledge mentioned by St. Paul ; and that scheme 
of redemption into which he represents angels as stooping to look ? The 
one is sunk down into a love which men have exercised ; and the other 
into a scheme for teaching and reforming mankind that men could carry 
©n- Price's sermons, p. 187. 



250 



PRE-EXISTENCB OF JESUS. 



PART III. 



St. Clement has a passage somewhat like this of the 
Apostle : — The sceptre of the majesty of God, says he, our 
Lord Jesus Christ, came not in the pomp of vain glory and 
splendid station, although he was able, but he came in low- 
liness of mind. — If the Lord thus humbled himself, how 
should we do who have come under the yoke of his grace .*. 
St. Barnabas says, For this end our Lord was content to 
suffer for our souls, even though he be Lord of the whole 
earth, to whom God said before the formation of the age. 
Let us make man in our image after our likeness f. To 
the same purpose Irenaeus : — Being invisible, he took man- 
hood upon himself and became visible ; being incompre- 
hensible, he became comprehensible ; and being impassi- 
ble, he became passible ; and being the Word, he became 
man J. — Again : — To this purpose our Lord, in these latter 
times, came to us, not so as he might have come, but so as 
we might be able to behold him ; for he might have come 
to us in his own unspeakable glory, but we should not have 
been able to endure the magnitude of his glory §. — Clemens 
Alexandrinus expresses himself in terms of similar import : 
—Now, says he, the Lord himself it was who spake by 
Isaiah ; he it was who spoke by the mouth of the Prophets : 
but if you will not believe the Prophets the Lord him- 
self shall speak to you, ivho being in the form of God, 
thought it not robbery to be equal with God : but the 
tenderly merciful God, desirous to save man, made himself 
of no reputation ||. I add Tertullian : — The word is God, 
who bei?ig in the form of God 9 thought' it not robbery to 
be equal with God 

This was the state he was in before he took upon him 
human nature. Yet, " he made himself of no reputation, 
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in 
the likeness of men ; and being found in fashion as a man, 
he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even 
the death of the cross." This was the state to which he 
humbled himself; in consequence of which unparalleled 
condescension, " God hath highly exalted him, in his 
human nature, and given him a name which is above 

* Ep. ad Cor. sec, 16, t Ep. Bar. sect. 5. t Adv. Haer, lib. 3. 
cap. 18. § Ibid. lib. 4 cap. 74. |j Cohort, ad Gentes, page 8. 

De Resur, Christi, cap. 6, see also Tert. adv. Prax. cap. 7, and Adv. 
Marcionem. lib. 5, cap. 20, 



SECT. 8. 



The Testimony of Paul. 



251 



every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should 
bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and 
things under the earth ; and that every tongue should con- 
fess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the 
Father." This is the state of honour and immortality to 
which his human nature is exalted, in consequence of the 
humiliation and condescension of the divine. And these 
three conditions of our Redeemer are essentially necessary 
to the Apostle's argument. Take away any one of them, 
and the propriety of the example is destroyed, and the force 
of the argument utterly enervated. If we take away his 
natural and original dignity, then there was no humiliation 
in becoming man ; nor was there any propriety in God's 
bestowing upon him a reward so infinitely superior to every 
thing he could have observed. But if he was by nature the 
Son of God; if he was originally in the form of God; and 
then humbled himself to the lowest pitch of poverty and 
distress to work out salvation for the sons of men, then 
there was the strictest propriety and decorum in exalting 
him to the head of the universe *. 

I have often considered carefully, says Dr. Price, the 
Interpretation which the Socinians give of these words ; and 
the more I have considered it, the more confirmed I have 
been in thinking it forced and unnatural. — Indeed the turn 
and structure of this passage are such, that I find it impose 
sible not to believe, that the humiliation of Christ, which 
St. Paul had in view, was, not his exchanging one condition 
on earth to another, but his exchanging the glory he had 
with God before the world was, for the condition of a man, 
and leaving that glory to encounter the difficulties of human 
life, and to suffer and die on the cross. This was, in truth, 
an event worthy to be held forth to the admiration of Chris- 
tians. But if the Apostle means only that Christ, though 
exalted above others by working miracles, yet consented to 
suffer and to die like other men ; if, I say, St. Paul means 
only this, the whole passage is made cold and trifling, no 
more being said of Christ than might have been said of St. 
Paul himself, or any of the other Apostles. 

* Compare John 17. 5, and g Cor, 8. 9, with this important passages 
and they will throw light one upon another. No words can more com- 
pletely subvert the Socinian scheme than these three scriptures do when 
compared with each other. 



252 PRE-EX1 stence OF JESUS. PART III. 

Tillotson has explained this important scripture in a very 
satisfactory manner : — That Christ was not only with God, 
says he, before he assumed our nature, but also was really 
God. Paul says, Phil. 2. 5, 6, 7, 8. Let this mind he in you, 
which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of 
God, y% apTrocyfxov wywonoH did not arrogate to himself to he 
equal with God, that is, he made no ostentation of his 
divinity : for this I take to be the meaning of that phrase, 
both because it is so used by Plutarch, and because it 
makes the sense much more easy and current, thus, who 
being in the form of God, did not assume an equality with 
God ; that is, he did not appear in the glory of his divinity, 
which was hid under a veil of human flesh and infirmity; 
but he emptied himself, and took upon him the form of a 
servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being 
found in fashion as a man, or in the habit of a man, he 
became obedient to the death, fyc. So that if his being made 
in the likeness and fashion of a man does signify, that he 
was really man by his incarnation, then surely his being in 
the form of God, when he took upon him the fashion and 
likeness of man, and the form of a servant or slave, must in 
all reason signify, that he was really God before he became 
man ; for which reason the same Apostle did not doubt to 
say, that God teas manifested in the flesh *. 

I have taken the pains to examine nearly all the Fathers 
of the three first centuries, who refer to this text : and now 
I declare upon the whole, I have not the smallest doubt re- 
maining upon my mind, that it is justly translated in our 
English bible f. 

279. * u Our conversation is in heaven ; from whence 
also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ \ who 
shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like 
unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby 
he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." Philip 3. 
20, 21. 

280. * " I can do all things through Christ which 
strengtheneth me." Philip 4. 13. — In these two passages 
all the great changes in the natural and moral world are 
ascribed to the power of Jesus : the resurrection of all 

* Sermon 44. t Burgh's Inquiry, &c. p. 299, See also p. 9 ? and 
144«"156. 



SECT. 8. 



The Testimony of Paul. 



253 



human beings in the former, and all moral ability to do good 
or support evil in the latter : so that, in the opinion of this 
inspired Apostle, our Saviour is absolutely clothed with 
omnipotence. But this being one of the incommunicable 
perfections of the Deity, Jesus Christ, in his higher nature, 
must be ineffably one with his almighty Father, or we have 
two omnipotent beings at the head of the universe ; which 
is contrary to the first principles of natural as well as re- 
vealed religion. 

281.* " By Christ were all things created that are in 
heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether 
they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers : 
all things were created by him, and for him : and he is be- 
fore all things, and by him all things consist *" Colos. 1 . 
16,17. 

Dr. Clarke observes, Nothing can be more forced and 
unnatural, than the Socinian interpretation of this passage ; 
who understand it figuratively, of the new creation by the 
gospel f. — Bishop Bull too says, If those words of the 
Apostle must not be understood of a creation properly 
speaking, I should think the scriptures inexplicable, and 
that nothing certain can be concluded from the most ex* 
press passages of them J. — It is remarkable that the ancient 
Arians speak of our Saviour in pretty near the same terms 
that are here used by the Apostle : — Before he made the 
universe, he was constituted God, and Lord, and King, and 
Creator of all future worlds. By the will and command (of 
his Father) through his own power he made things in hea- 
ven, and things in earth, visible and invisible, bodies and 
spirits, and caused them out of nothing to come into being §. 
A learned writer observes upon this remarkable passage 
that our Lord is represented as the Son of God, not only 
before his incarnation, but antecedently to the creation 
itself. And therefore it is a vain and fruitless attempt for 
any one to endeavour to account for the title of Son, or only 
Son, from his immaculate conception, or «ven from his 
Messiaship; both which are confessedly posterior to that 

* See Whitby on this passage. t Scripture Doctrine, page 80. 

% Defensio Fidei Nicaenae, cap, i» sect- 15. § Ser, Arianor. apud August, 
torn. 8, p. 622. See too the first book oflrenaeus, cap- 19, wheie he ap« 
plies this scripture to the first creation. 



254 



PRE-EXISTENCE OP JESUS. 



PART IITo 



Sonship, which Paul speaks of here ; and from whence it 
may be again observed, the Son of God and Messiah, though 
titles belonging to the same person, are not phrases strictly 
synonymous *. 

I believe this scripture may be left to speak for itself. 
The being of whom all these great tidings are predicated 
must be divine. To suppose otherwise is to throw an im- 
penetrable cloud over all language, and to render the bible 
the most dangerous book in the world. How any serious 
and honest mind can be satisfied with the Socinian interpre- 
tation is hard to conceive. Judgment, however, belongs not 
to us. We must leave each other till the grand decisive 
day. 

282 * " It pleased the Father, that in him should all 
fulness dwell." Colos. 1. 19. 

283.* " In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and 
knowledge." Colos. 2. 3. 

281 * "In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead 
bodily f." Col. 2. 9. I have united these three declarations of 
this eloquent Apostle, because they are all of similar im- 
port. And though none of them expressly say that Christ 
is God, yet they predicate such things of him as no merely 
human being can be capable of. We may therefore fairly 
conclude, even from these three passages thus compared, 
that Christ Jesus the Lord, is God and man united in one 
Mediator for the salvation of the world. 

285.* " Without controversy great is the mystery of 
godliness ; God ivas manifest in the flesh \ justified in the 

* Fiddes's Theo. Spec. vol. i, page 425. 

t Dr. Doddridge says upon this last passage, I assuredly believe that 
as it contains an evident allusion to the Shechinah in which God dwelt, so 
it ultimately refers to the adorable mystery of the union of the divine and 
human natures in the person of the glorious I mar.uel, wich makes him 
such an object of our hope and confidence, as the most exalted creature, 
with the most glorious endowments could never, of himself, be. Family- 
Expositor, vol, 5. f>. 313. 

Whitby says upon the same verse, Col, 2. 9. quoting the words of the 
Ancients, I conclude, therefore, that the body born of the Virgin, re- 
ceiving the whole fulness of the Godhead bodily, was immutably united to 
io the Divinity, and deified ; which made the same person, Jesus Christ, 
both God and man. 

See also Waterland's Eight Sermons, p. 257—264, and Fiddes's The«- 
logia Speculat, vol. 1. p. 426, 427". 



SECT. 8. 



The Testimony of PauL 



255 



Spirit ; seen of angels 5 preached unto the Gentiles ; be- 
lieved on in the world ; received up into glory — This is 
another of those leading passages in the writings of Paul, 
which speaks unanswerably for the pre-existence and divi- 
nity of our blessed Saviour. We may cavil with it, and 
labour to turn it in favour of whatever system we embrace ; 
but, after all our best endeavours, the pre-existence and 
divinity of the Redeemer will ever recur to the minds of 
sober and dispassionate readers. They must suppose, either 
that Paul is a very absurd writer, or that there is something* 
truly extraordinary in the character of a person spoken of in 
this portion of holy scripture. Nor is it necessary they should 
remain long in doubt concerning it, if they will only be at 
the pains to compare it with similar declarations in the 
word of God :— " God with us f.' " The Word was God J." 
— " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us § 
" The Life was manifested, and we have seen it || 
" God was in Christ If :" — " Unto us a child is born**" — 
— " the mighty God tt — " He that was in the form of God 
was found in the likeness of men J J." — " He that was God 
blessed for evermore, was also of the seed of David according 
to the flesh ?" All] these expressions are applicable to no 
other being, but the Son of God, and he alone it is, who 
was manifested in the flesh ||||. 

286.* " I have fought a good fight, I have finished my 
course, I have kept the faith : henceforth there is laid up 
for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righ- 
teous Judge, shall give me at that day : and not to me only^ 

* 1. Tim. 3. 16. Compare Whitby on the place, and Dr. Clarke's 
Script. Doct. p 75. See also an able vindication of the authenticity of 
the common reading in Pearson on the Creed, p. 127, Consult too 
Stillingfleet on the Trinity, p. 156—164 ; Knowles's Primitive Christianity, 
p. 49, and Waterland's Eight Sermons, p. 262, For the various readings, 
see Mills in loco. 

t Mat- 1. 23. * John l.l. § Ibid, 1,14. 

It John 1. 2. IT 2 Cor. 5. 19. ** Isa. 9. 6- 

tt Phil- 2. 6, 7. i* Rom. 9- 5- 

jjlJ Bishop Hurd has a good sermon on this text, which the reader 
would do well to consult. When the scheme of man's redemption, saya 
he, was laid, it was not thought fit that an apostle, a prophet, a man like 
ourselves, no, nor an angel or archangel, should be the instrument of it j 
but that the Word of God, the Son of God, nay God himself, as he is here 
and elsewhere called, should take this momentous office upon him, Vol, 2. 
p. 333, 



256 



PRE-EXISTENCE OF JESUS. 



PART III. 



but unto all them also that love his appearing." 2 Tim. 4. 
7, 8. — The Lord, the righteous judge, whose appearance is 
to be expected, is undoubtedly descriptive of the character 
of no other than our blessed Saviour. And is it possible 
that a mere man should be the judge of men and angels? 
of all the angels that fell from heaven, and of all the men 
that ever lived from the beginning to the end of time ? No 
less than the perfections of Deity can be adequate to such 
an undertaking. 

287.* "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious ap- 
pearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who 
gave himself for us *. Tit. 2. 13. — In this passage our Saviour 
is plainly called the great God ; not thereby meaning, that he 
is the Father, neither the same person as the Father ; but 
that he is the natural and essential Son of the Father, and 
one with him in dominion, power, and glory. Why too, 
may not he, who is called GOD. John 1. l.j GREAT 
GOD. Rev. 19. 17.; MIGHTY GOD. Isa. 9. 6. ; and 
God over all blessed forever. Rom. 9. 5.; be also 
called the GREAT GOD in this place ? — It is highly pro- 
bable, says Whitby, that Jesus Christ it here styled the 
GREAT God. 1. Because in the original the article is 
prefixed only before the great God, and therefore seems to 
require this construction — The appearance of Jesus Christ 
the great God, and our Saviour. 2. Because as God 
the Father is not said properly to appear; so the word 
zTriQuma, never occurs in the New Testament, but when it is 
applied to Jesus Christ, and to some coming of his. 3» 
Because Christ is emphatically styled our hope, and the hope 
of glory, Col. 1. 23, and 1 Tim. 1.1. And, lastly, be- 
cause not only all the ancient Commentators on the place 
do so interpret this text, but the Ante-Nicene Fathers also: 
Hippolytus De Antichrist, sect. 64, speaking of the ap- 
pearance of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ; and Clemens 
of Alexandria, Admon. ad Gent. p. 5,6. proving Christ to be 
both God and man, our Creator, and the author of all our 
good things from these very words of Paul. — The same 
Clemens saith that Christ is God — the great God — and God 

* Sec Hammond, Doddridge, and Guise in loco- 



SECT. S. 



The Testimony of Paul. 



257 



over all blessed for ever*. — Tillotson observes upon the verse, 
that this cannot be understood of the appearance of two 
persons, namely, of the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ 
our Saviour ; for then the article would have been added to 
distinguish them, and it would not have been x«* a-cor*^ n^wv, 
but xxi t« rrurr^o; *pm, as if he had said, The appearance of 
the great God, and of Jesus Christ our Saviour; when, as 
according to the propriety of the Greek, the article being 
wanting, it ought to be rendered thus, Looking for the 
appearing of Jesus Christ the great God and our Sa- 
viour]*. 

* See Fleming's Christology, vol. 1. p. 202.--GIU on the Trinity, p. 
130.— Clarke on the Trinity, p. 76. And especially Vaterland's Eight 
Sermons, p, 2 14.— 2 18,. t Sermon 184, 



S 



253 DIGNITY AND GLORY OF JESUS PART III. 



PART THIRD, 

SECTION IX. 

THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST ARGUED FROM SEVERAL PAS- 
SAGES IN THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 



Dr. Priestley endewours to discredit, the Writings of 
Paid, — 2 he peculiar excellency of his Epistle to the 
Hebrews. — -Sentiments of Hawker— Jortin — Clarke — * 
Bishop Watson— Crellius, and Whitby.—- Jesus Heir 
of all things .--^Constitutor of the ages ; — Bright- 
ness of the Fathers glory : — Sustains k, and Creator 

of the Universe. The Omniscient and Immutable 

JEHQ VAH.— Opinions of Authors. 

There is no part pf the writings ot this Apostle, which 
speaks more excellent things of our blessed Saviour, than 
the first chapter of his most learned Epistle to the Hebrews, 
The whole is an admirable piece of reasoning, and eloquent, 
at the same time, in a very high degree. I verily believe, 
there is not in the world, a piece of writing equally eloquent 
and argumentive, equally persuasive and conclusive. 

J)r, Priestley has said this Apostle often reasons inconclu- 
sively. It suits the Doctor's hypothesis to destroy the credit 
of his writings ; for if Paul always reasons conclusively, Dr„ 
Priestley often reasons inconclusively. The attentive rea- 
der, therefore, will easily discover whence arises the enmity 
of the Doctor to this great man and infallible messenger of 
heaven. I would recommend him, however, to read care- 
fully over 3 and compare impartially together, the most cele- 



SECT. 9. 



The Testimony of Paul. 



259 



brated of the Doctor's treatises, whether on moral, religious, 
or polemical subjects, and this Epistle of Paul to the 
Hebrews, and though he may see abundant reasons to ad- 
mire the zeal and ingenuity of the good Doctor, yet if he 
does not discover a vast superiority both of style, matter, 
manner, eloquence, and solid reasoning, in the composition 
of the Apostle, he must be as destitute of taste and judg- 
ment, as he is of piety and respect for the word of God. 

It has been said, because Paul's name is neither pre- 
fixed nor affixed, according to custom in his other writings, 
therefore he is not the author of this Epistle, but either St. 
Clement, or some other of the disciples of our Lord. Good 
reasons, however, may be given, why it differs, in this re- 
spect, from those which are universally acknowledged to be 
his : and, indeed, the Epistle itself, has sufficient internal 
marks, of its having been written by this truly great and 
learned man. For, without any disparagement of St Cle- 
ment, and other disciples of Jesus Christ, it may be safely 
asserted, they were none of them equal to the composition of 
such a discourse. We may, I think, confidently assume, 
that it is the undoubted work of the first man in the college 
of the Apostles. 

But, without further introduction, let us proceed to the 
examination of this most sublime description of the person 
and character of the Son of God, and Saviour of men, 

288.* " God, who at sundry times, and in divers man- 
ners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the Prophets, 
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." Heb. 1. 
lj :2. This whole chapter is so replete with terms denoting 
the omnipotence and eternity of Christ, and ascribing to 
liim every divine honour, that the sacred writer seems to 
labour for expressions to describe the dignity and greatness 
of his person*. It is very evident from what has been 
already observed, that the Son of God was the person who 
conducted all the divine dispensations from the beginning 
of the world. When therefore the Apostle saith, that God 
had spoken by the prophets in former ages, and by his Son 
in these latter days, we are to understand it of his speaking 
to us more clearly, fully, directly, professedly, and in human 



: * Hawker's Sermons, p. 6-i. 
s 2 



260 DIGNITY AND GLOllY OF JESUS. PART III. 

form, lie having conducted all the prior dispensations under 
the character of an Angel, or the God of Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob. — Dr. Jortin tells us, that all the visible or audi- 
ble manifestations of God, of which mention is made in the 
scriptures of the Old Testament, seem to have been ap- 
pearances of the Word or the Son of God, acting and 
speaking in his Father's name ; as after the incarnation he 
acted and spake in his own person; as when he appeared 
to St. Stephen, to St. Paul, and to other saints and disci- 
ples. In this the ancient Christians, and most of the mo- 
derns are agreed*. 

Dr. Clarke speaks somewhat more at large, He says, 
It is the constant doctrine of all the primitive writers of the 
church, that every appearance of God the Father in the 
Old Testament was Christ appearing in the name or person 
of the Father in the form of God, as being the image of the 
invisible God; Col. 1.15; of him whom no man hath seen 
at any time ; John 1.18; of him whom no man hath seen 
or can see ; 1 Tim, 6, 16 f.-^He expresses himself to the 
same purpose in another part of the same work. It is the 
unanimous opinion of all antiquity, says he, that the Angel, 
who said, I am the God of thy fathers ; Acts 7-30,31, 32. 
was Christ the Aug el of the covenant; Mai. 3. 1; the 
Angel of God's presence; Isa. 63. 9: and in ivhom the 
name of God was ; Exod. 23. *2l ; speaking in the name 
and person of the invisible Father. Thus Gen, 16. 10. 
The angel of the Lord said unto her, I tvill multiply thy 
seed exceedingly. — Again : Gen. 31. 11, 13. The angel of God 
spake unto me in a dream saying, I am the God of Bethel, 
where — thou vowedst a vow unto me. And chap. 48. 15. 
Jacob blessed Joseph and said ; God, before whom my 
fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed 
me all my Life long unto this day, the Angel ivhich re- 
deemed me from all evil, bless the lads. And Hos. 12. 3. 4. 
He had power with God; yea, he had power over the angel, 
and prevailed. And Zach. 12. 8, The house of David 
shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord%. 

But how do we say that Christ appeared on so many oc- 
casions before he became incarnate ? The best answer I 



% Sermons, vol. 4. p. 218. t Script, Doct p. 93. $ Ibid. p. 105. 



SECT. 9. 



The Testimony of Paul. 



261 



have seen to this inquiry is the following one of Bishop 
Watson in his Collection of Theological Tracts *. 

May we not distinguish, says this learned Prelate, be- 
tween the Logos as a proxy of Deity, or as personating the 
glorious majesty of God in the Shechinah, and in that 
capacity, by the Holy Spirit, inspiring the prophets, and 
presiding over the angels at the giving of the law : and the 
same Logos acting and speaking to us, in his incarnate 
state, in the capacity of a prophet ? In the former capacity 
he may be considered in relation to God, as personating 
God, or as in the form of God, whose agent he was under 
every dispensation which God erected; and therefore as 
doing nothing in his own person. For thus, his person 
would coincide with that of the supreme God, and is not to 
be considered as different from him, but as acting in his 
name and authority. In the latter capacity he may be con- 
sidered in relation to us, and to our salvation by the gospel ; 
for the accomplishment of which, he stooped so far as to take 
upon him our nature, and, not as personating God, but in 
quality of a prophet sent from God, to publish among us in 
his own person, and name, the promise of eternal life. 
' . And must not this bring us under greater obligations to 
attend to him; and be sufficient to distinguish him as acting 
in delivering the law, and preaching the Gospel ? He that 
was in the form of God, and represented God, when the law 
was delivered, and who delivered it by the ministry of angels 
and of Moses; that transcendently glorious person after- 
wards became a man, and in his own person, and by his 
own ministry, delivered to us the gospel. Doth not this, in 
a very peculiar manner, recommend to us the gospel, and 
oblige us to attend to its doctrine ? Heb. 1. 1, 2. God who 
at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in time 
past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last 
days spoken unto us BY HIS SON, &c. God always 
spake by proxy. And the Apostle might speak as he doth, 
although it be true, that our Lord was the proxy of Deity 
under the Old Testament dispensation. For the Apostle 
here considers, not w T ho was the proxy of Deity, but by 
whom he immediately spake to the fathers in the Jewish 



• Vol. 1. p. 68. 

S3 



262 DIGNITY AND GtORY OF JESUS. PART lit, 

church, and to us in the Christian church. And the oppo- 
sition lies between, not the proxies or representatives of 
Deity, but between the prophets in the former dispensation, 
and the Son of God in the latter. By his Son, as his proxy, 
he spake to the prophets, and by the prophets he spake to 
the Old Testament fathers. But under the New Testament 
his well-beloved son, who before was indeed in the form of 
God, as his proxy, himself became a prophet, and in the form 
of a man spake to us immediately as a prophet. 

289. * " Whom he hath appointed heir of all things." 
-—Being his Son by nature, he is constituted the heir and 
possessor of the universe in common with his Father* 

The interpretation the Socinians give of these words, with 
Whitby's observation upon it, is worthy of remark : — Christ, 
say they, is made heir of all things in heaven and earth; yea, 
of heaven and earth itself ; that he is heir and lord of all 
angels, and of all men living and dead ; that he is abso- 
lutely the heir of all things, and hath the highest empire and 
dominion over all angels and men ; by which words is signi- 
fied the highest excellency and divinity, and, as it were, the 
unity of Christ with God, though with diversity, in that he is 
his Son and Heir, and received this dominion from another. 
These are the sentiments of Crellius, the celebrated Socinian 
with very little variation. Whitby remarks upon them : — I 
believe it is as impossible to understand how a man should 
have this empire over all things in heaven and earth, and over 
death itself, and yet be a mere man, as it is to understand 
any mystery of the Sacred Trinity*. 

290. * < f By whom also he made the worlds." That 
Jesus Christ existed before he was born of the Virgin, and, 
in conjunction with his Almighty Father, was the Creator of 
the world, is the constant language of the New Testament. 
Nothing can be more express than the following declara- 
tions : — " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word 
was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in 
the beginning with God. All things w T ere made by him ; 
and without him was not any thing made that was made." — 
6( To us there is but one God the Father, of whom are all 
things, and we in him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by 



* Whitby on the place f 



SECT. 9. 



The Testimony of Paul 



263 



whom are all things, and we by him." — Again : — " God 
created all things by Jesus Christ." — Again : — " By Christ 
were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in 
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or 
dominions, or principalities, or powers : all things were cre- 
ated by him and for him ; and by him all things consist." — 
Again, in the passage before us : " By whom God made the 
worlds," or constituted the ages. — And again: — "Thou, 
Lord, in the beginning, hast laid the foundation of the earth, 
and the heavens are the works of thine hands." Peter also 
is very satisfactory upon the same subject : — " For this they 
willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the 
heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water 
and in the water*." These seven passages, when considered 
in their context, and compared one with another, render it 
as clear as any thing well can be, that Jesus Christ was, 
with his Father, the Creator of the world. If this is not a 
certain, and infallible conclusion, I am clearly of opinion, it 
is utterly in vain, to attempt to prove any proposition what- 
evei from the word of God. We may infer, therefore, with 
all the assurance of conviction and demonstration, that the 
Son of God was the Creator of the. world. 

Dr. Clarke says, The Socinian interpretation of these 
words — All things were made by him — that the new creation 
was made by him, or all things relating to the dispensation 
of the gospel were done by him, is extremely forced and 
unnatural^;. 

St. Barnabas declares, that Christ is the Lord of 
the world, the Maker of the sun, the Person by whom, 
and to whom are all things. — Justin Martyr says, He 
is the Word by which the heaven, the earth, and every 
creature was made, by whom God at the beginning made 
and ordained all things, namely, the heavens and the earth, 
and by whom he will renew them. — This Irenasus delivers 
as the rule of faith contained in the scripture. Some of his 
declarations, for he repeats the same thing many times 

* 2 Pet. 3. 5. Dr. Whitby says upon this declaration of Paul, By 
whom also he made the worlds, that this was the doctrine of all the primi- 
tive Fathers from the beginning, as well as of all the commentators s see 
his notes upon it. 

t Scripture Doctrine, p 79, 



264 



DIGNITY AND GLORY OF JESUS. 



PART lit. 



over, are these: "There is one Almighty God who built, 
fitted, and made all things out of nothing by his Word. — - 
Many barbarous nations, who held the ancient tradition, did 
believe in one God, the Maker of heaven and earth, and of 
all things therein, by Jesus Christ, the Son of God.- — Athen- 
agoras says, Our doctrine celebrates one God, the Creator 
of all things, who made all things by Jesus Christ, from 
whom, and by whom, all things were made. 

231.* " Who being the brightness of his glory." — After 
having ranked Jesus Christ above all the ancient prophets, 
telling us, that he was the Son of God, the Heir of all 
things, the Constitutor of the ages, and the Creator of the 
universe ; he proceeds still farther, and attempts to describe 
his natural and essential glory. Language, however, seems 
to fail him, and he recurs to expressions taken from those 
who have gone before him in the same province, but which 
are extremely difficult either to explain or understand. "The 
Son," says he, " is the brightness of the Father's glory 
the resplendence, the shining forth, the beam, the effulgent 
ray of his glory. All these expressions have been used by 
learned men to explain the apostle's meaning, and to convey 
some idea of the infinite brightness and splendour of his 
nature. Dionysius Alexandrinus says, that Christ is the 
splendour of the eternal light, and he himself is altogether 
eternal : for as the light always exists, so it is manifest the 
splendour must always exist*. — The ancient Jews, from 
whom Paul copied, had recourse to similar language, when 
they wanted to describe the nature of Wisdom, which was 
no other with them than the Son of God. For the Book of 
Wisdom says of her, that she is an efflux of the sincere 
glory of the Almighty, and the splendour of eternal light. 
And the learned Philo saith of the Logos, that he is the 
most illustrious and splendid light of the invisible and highest 
God. — Plotinus informs us, that he is a light streaming forth 
from God, even as brightness doth from the sun. He calls 
him the Son of God, and says, that being the Word of 
God, and the Image of God, he is inseparably conjoined 
with him J. 

* Apud Athanus. de sent. Dionys. p. 253. See Waterland's Vindica* 
tion, p. 21. 

$ For other expressions of a similar kind see the fifth part of this Plea ? 
and Scott's Christian Life, vol. 5. p. 187", 138. 



SECT. 9. 



The Testimony of Paul. 



265 



Some of the Christian fathers suppose, that this figura- 
tive expression of the apostle is taken from the material sun. 
Hence Justin Martyr saith, The Son proceedeth from the 
Father, as the light of the sun in the firmamant from its own 
body, without any division or separation from it*. Others 
say, He proceedeth, as fire is kindled from fire, without the 
dimunition of the fire that kindled it, or as one torch is 
lighted from another J. 

292 * The apostle goes still farther : — "The Son is the 
express image of the Father's person." — On other occasions 
he calls Christ " The image of God," and " The image of 
the invisible God :" but here he is called, " The express 
image of his person the impression, the representation 
of his subsistence, or the full delineation of his person. 
In this passage, as well as the former, the apostle had in 
his eye the expressions which occur in the Jewish authors 
who preceded him : for Wisdom is called again, the un- 
spotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his 
goodnessf. And Philo saith too, that the Logos is the eter- 
nal image of God, by which the whole world was made§. 
Nay, he uses the very same expression, when speaking of 
the Son of God, which the apostle here doth, saying, He 
is the character, the express image, of God, answering to 
his Father's person, as the impression made upon wax by a 
seal, answers to the seal by which it is made. And no 
being, I think, can make any such high pretensions as these, 
but one that is truly and properly divine. 

" If he be the image of the invisible, the image itself 
must be invisible too. I will be bold to add, that since he 
is the resemblance of his Father, there could not have been 
a time when he was not||." The doctor observes in the 
place, that Origen goes on to argue, that since God is light, 
and Christ he Kiravy^^ or shining forth of that light, 
quoting this text, that they could never have been separate 
one from the other, but must have been co-eternal. 

293 * The apostle proceeds still further in his description 
of the Son of God. Having described his eternal divinity, 

* Dial, with Trypho, p. 358. t Tatian and Tertnllian. 
t Wisdom, chap. 7, 26, De Monar, p, 303, De Con, Ling, p, 276, 

|| Origen apud Athan. taken from Dr. Waterland's Defence ot some 
Queries, p, 2q, 



26*6 DIGNITY AND GLORY OF JESUS. PART IIT. 

and represented him as the Creator of the world, he then 
tells us* that " He upholds all things by the word of his 
power." This is an expression similar to that of the same 
apostle in his Epistle to the Colossians, where it is said, 
" He is before all things, and by him all things consist." 
But then, what a contrast is here ? The Son of God — the 
Heir of all things — the Constitutor of the ages — the 
Brightness of his Father's glory — the express Image of 
his Person — and the Sustainer of the universe — became an 
atoning Sacrifice for the sins of that world ivhich his own 
hands had made. 

294.* 66 For by himself he purged our sins." Amazing 
condescension ! grace unknown ! After the Lamb of God 
h ad for this purpose been slain, and the atonement made 
and accepted, which was fully manifested to the world by 
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, " He sat 
down on the right hand of the majesty on high," in his glo- 
rified human nature, in place and dignity infinitely superior 
to the highest archangel in the kingdom of heaven ; yea, 
as much superior as God's only begotten Son, who must be 
of the same nature with himself, is superior to the work of 
his own hands. 

The ingenious Mr. Gilpin observes upon the 18th verse 
of the 10th chapter of this epistle, that whoever examines 
seriously Paul's application of the Jewish rites of atone- 
ment, to the death of Christ, in several parts of this epistle 
must either, I think, deny the authenticity of these passages, 
or believe the doctrine of the atonement. 

Bishop Burnet has treated of the doctrine of atonement 
in his Exposition of the thirty-nine Articles, art. 2. p. 65 — - 
68, octavo, with his usual perspicuity, and Bishop Butler in 
his Analogy, part 2. chap. 5. has shewn, that it is perfectly 
reasonable, and agreeable to the common course of nature. 
Grotius's book on the same subject is decisive. — It has been 
observed on the 26th page of this Plea, that Grotius has 
been claimed by the Socinians as favouring their opinions. 
Several of his expositions of the New Testament, it must be 
allowed, are much the same with theirs ; and, it is remark- 
able, that persons of very different sentiments have considered 
him as friendly to their several opinions. The fact is, I sup- 
pose, that he was of different sentiments at different periods 



SECT. 9. 



The Testimony of Paul. 



267 



of his life, as many other good men have been. See, how- 
ever, a satisfactory vindication of this great man from 
Socinianism, in the sixth book of his Life r written by M« 
De Burigny. 

295. " Being made so much better than the angels, as 
he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than 
they." — -Such is the account which is here given of the Son 
of the Highest ! I do not exaggerate when I say, that human 
language wants terms to convey ideas of a more exalted kind. 
What could have been said to elevate his character that is 
not said ? We know of nothing higher, nothing greater, 
nothing better, nothing more sublime, than this decription. 
The Son is every thing, but the Father, the original and 
fountain of Deity. And that he could not be, because he is 
the Son. Every thing else he is which implies equality. 
He is — give me leave to repeat the glorious declarations — * 
he is — the Son of God — the heir of all things — the consti- 
tutor of the ages — the brightness of his Father's glory— 
the express image of his person — the sustainer of the uni- 
verse. And, having assumed human nature, he lived a 
proper time in the world, and then died to purchase redemp* 
tion for the souls which he had made.* — From all these con- 
siderations united, it is very evident we cannot think of our 
blessed Saviour too highly, love him too intensely, or expect 
too much from his fulness.*. 

296. * " And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the 

* There was a valuable discourse published in the year 1794, entitled 
a Demonstration of the true and eternal Divinity of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, in opposition to the attacks of the present age, which obtained the 
gold medal of the Hague Society. It was written by the learned Dutch- 
man Dr. Dionysius Van De Wynpersse, professor of Mathematics and 
Astronomy at Leyden. He divides the whole into twenty-one sections, in 
which, among other matters, he considers — the divine names of Christ — 
the divine properties — the divine works— and the divine honour. He 
afterwards considers him as the author of our salvation — and the propitia- 
tion for our sins. The twelfth section is the relation of Christ to his 
church— then, the authority of Christ over all God's ambassadors— Christ 
the spirit of ancient prophecy — the divinity of Christ the power of the 
gospel — the coming of Christ to judgment — the adoration of Christ --the 
rejection of Christ — the relation of Christ to God the Father— the relation 
of Christ to the Holy .Spirit— the conclusion. The nature of the treatise 
will be seen from these particulars. It is called a Demonstration : and, 
indeed, so it is, as far as religious subjects are capable of this kind of evi» 
deuce. Scripture being judge, it admits of no conclusive answer. 



268 DIGNITY AND GLORY OF JESUS. TART III, 

foundation of the earth ; and the heavens are the works of 
thine hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest ; and 
they all shall wax old as doth a garment ; and as a vesture 
shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed : but 
thou art the same, and thy years shall not failf Heb. 1. 
10 — 12. These words are taken from the 102d. psalm. 
There they are descriptive of the immutability of the Father. 
But here, being applied to our blessed Saviour by an inspired 
apostle, they are equally descriptive of his immutability 
also. Language admits not of expressions more pointed and 
decisive. 

This learned Author vindicates the above application of 
this quotation from the book of psalms in the manner fol- 
lowing. 

It is not without good reason, says he, that we under- 
stand Heb. 1. 10. of Christ. — 1. The context itself favours 
it. The verse begins with, %«» <rv, which properly refers to 
the same who was spoken of immediately before in the 
second person. The <ra proceeding and <rv following, answer 
to each other. A charge of person, while the same way of 
speaking is pursued, must appear unnatural. — 2. The scope 
and intent of the author was to set forth the honour and 
dignity of the Son above the angels ; and no circumstance 
could be more proper than that of his creating the world.™ 
3. If he had omitted it, he had said less than himself had 
done before in the second verse, of which this seems to be 
explanatory, and as he had brought proofs from the Old 
Testament for several other articles, nothing could be more 
proper or more pertinent, than to bring a proof from thence 
of this also. — 4. Declaring him to be Jehovah, and Creator 
of the universe might be very proper to shew that he was 
no ministering spirit, but avtyow ; sitting at the right hand 
of God, which immediately follows. — 5. To introduce a 
passage here about God's immutability or stability, must ap- 
pear very abrupt, and not pertinent ; because the Angels 
also, in their order and degree, reap the benefit of God's 
stability and immutability. And the question was not about 
the duration and continuance, but about the sublimity and 
excellency of their respective natures and dignities. — «6\ I 



* See Waterland's Eight Sermons, p, 250* 



SECT. 9. 



The Testimony of Paul, 



269 



may add, that this sense is very consonant to antiquity, which 
every where speaks of the Son as Creator, and in as high 
and strong terms : such as these, vexP&s* oV^pyos, kowtW) 

avS'pWTr&y, ayyikoov, ruv ttocvtuv, twv oXuv. ra hqv\j.h and the like*. 

297. * " Jesus, who was made a little lower than the 
angels, that he might taste death for every man. — He took 
not on him the nature of angels ; hut he took on him the 
seed of Abraham." Heb. 2. 9. 16*. Surely these expres- 
sions fully imply pre-existence, and that Christ w 7 as ori- 
nally superior in nature to the angels. — Consider here how 
absurd it would be to mention, as an instance of condescen- 
sion and merit in a mere man, that he submitted to be made 
lower than the angels, and that he assisted not them but 
the seed of Abraham f. 

298. * " Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the 
heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High-Priest of 
our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that 
appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. 
For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, 
inasmuch as he who hath buildcd the house, hath more 
honour than the house. For every house is builded by 
some man; but he that built all things is God, And 
Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a 
testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; 
but Christ as a Son over his own house ; whose house we 
are, if we hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of the 
hope firm unto the end J." Heb. 3. I- — 6*. In these words 
the Apostle represents our Saviour as the builder and foun- 
der of the Jewish church. This is an argument unanswer- 
able for his pre-existence. He represents him also as Son 
of God, and Master of his own house. This is an argument 
of his real and proper divinity. 

299. * " The Word of God is quick and powerful, and 
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the 
dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and 
marrow, and- is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of 

* Waterland's Defence of Queries, p. 95. 
t Priced Sermons, p. 136. See also Whitby on Heb. 2. 16. 
i See Whitby on the place, and Fiddes's Theologia Speculativa. vol. 1. 
p. 428. Consult also Hawker's Sermons* p. 63— ?2 } where there is a good 
illustration. 



2?0 



DIGNITY AND GLORY OP JESUS. 



PART III. 



the heart : neither is there any creature that is not manifest 
in his sight ; hut all things are naked, and open unto the 
eyes of him with whom we have to do *." Heb. 4. 12, 13. 
Some of our most valuable authors apply these words to the 
Son of God, and others to the written word of God. It 
was applied to our Saviour by some of the Christian fathers, 
both before and after the council of Nice. If this applica- 
tion is just, the passage contains a clear proof of the omni- 
science of the Son of God ; which is one of the incommu- 
nicable perfections of the Divine Being. 

Clemens Alexandrinus says, The Son of God never 
comes down from his watch-tower, as never being divided, 
never parted asunder, and never passes from place to place, 
but is always every where, and contained no where ; all 
mind, all the Father's light, all eye, sees all things, hears 
all things, knows all things, and by his power searches the 
powers f. 

300. * " See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For 
if they escape not who refused him that spake on earth, 
much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him 
that speaketh from heaven : whose voice then shook the 
earth." Heb. 12. 25, 26. — Do not these words suppose, 
or rather assert, that it was Christ, the mediator of the new 
covenant, who spake from mount Sinai at the giving of the 
law ? See Doddridge in loco. 

301, * " Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day, and for- 
ever J." Heb. 13.8. These words, when considered in the con- 
text, seem strongly expressive of the immutability of Jesus ; 
the sense being the same as, " He who is, who was, and 
who is to come." Some apply the expression to the doc- 
trine instead of the person of Christ. The reader will con- 
sult the context and form his judgment.— These several 
passages, from the writings of this Apostle, either convey 
to us the idea of uncreated excellency, in the nature of the 
Redeemer, or it must be allowed, that he was, not only not 

* See Whitby on the place, and Water-land's Eight Sermons, p, 256\ 
257, where it is applied to Christ with accumulated evidence. 

t Strom. 1. 7. See page 211 of this Plea, where this same passage is 
produced, only with a little variation in the translation. 

t See the above sense of the passage well defended by Dr. Waterland 
in his Eight Sermons, p. 251—253, Consult also Doddridge and Guise ou 
the place. 



SECT. 9. 



The Testimony of Paul. 



271 



inspired, but a most unfortunate interpreter of liis hea- 
venly Master's will, and a reasoner in the highest degree 
inconclusive *. 

* See this Apostle's character rescued from the dishonourable asper- 
sions of Dr. Priestley in Lord Littleton's Observations on the Conver- 
sion of Paul, and in Mr. Locke's Preface to his Essay on St. Paul's 
Epistles. Consult too my Strictures on Religious Opinions, p, 110—114. 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART III* 



PART THIRD. 

SECTION X. 
— * — - 

THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST ARGUED FROM SEVERAL PASSAGES 
IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN. 



An account of John and his Writings, — Importance of 
his Gospel. — Conclusive Character of his testimony. — > 
Declares Jesus Christ iucis God: — The Creator of 
the natural World: — The Illuminator of the moral 
W orld. — Sabellian interpretation. — Socinian interpre- 
tation : — Never heard of for fifteen hundred years 
after Christ. — Dr. Priestley's vieivs, partly Sabellian, 

and partly Socinian. Avian interpretation. Dr. 

Clarke's observations. — The Catholic interpretation 
proved to he the only true one. — Tillotson's view of the 
argument. — Jesus knew the secrets of all hearts. — • 
The Omnipotent Saviour of all that believe. 

The writings of John, the beloved disciple of our Lord, 
come next under consideration. We have already selected 
such parts of them as our Saviour himself is said to have 
uttered, and the reasonings of the Jews upon them; but 
we will now proceed to those parts, where the Apostle 
delivers his own sentiments concerning the person and 
character of his Lord and Master. He was the last of all 
the Apostles, and is said to have composed his Gospel and 
Epistles in his old age, about the year of our Lord ninety, 
and the book of Revelation five or six years afterwards. 



SECT. 10. 



T7ie Testimony of John. 



273 



Irenaeus and Jerome inform us, that John was requested 
by the Bishops of Asia to write his gospel against the rising 
heresies of Cerinthus and Ebion. And it is remarkable, 
that these two heretics (especially the latter) were in many 
respects the same as our modern Socinians. They both 
denied the real and proper divinity of Christ. They both 
considered him as a mere man. They were both written 
against by this Apostle, by Ignatius, by Justin, by Irenasus, 
by Tertullian, and by several others. Ought not this con- 
sideration to have some weight with Dr. Priestley and his 
admirers ? — Irenseus says, John, the disciple of our Lord, 
designing to extirpate that error, which had been sown by 
Cerinthus, and a great whilebeforeby the Nicolaitans, who are 
a branch of that heresy which is falsely called Knowledge, 
that he might confound them, and persuade them that there 
is one God who made all things by his Word ; and that 
the Creator of the universe, and the Father of our Lord, 
were not, as they pretended, distinct beings, wrote his 
gospel *. 

St. Jerome says, John wrote his Gospel last of all, at 
the desire of the Bishops of Asia, against Cerinthus and 
other heretics, and the heresy of the Ebionites, which began 
to prevail exceedingly at that time, who asserted that Christ 
was not before the virgin Mary, upon which account also 
he was forced to declare his divine original f. — The same 
author in another place speaks in the following manner 
John the Apostle and Evangelist being in Asia, and the 
heresies of Cerinthus, Ebion, and others, who denied that 
Christ was come in the flesh, and whom he also in his 
Epistle calls Antichrists, springing up at that very time, he 
was compelled almost by all the then Bishops of Asia, and 
the messages of many churches, to write concerning our 
Saviour's divinity more particularly. Whence it is also 
related in church history, that being urged by his brethren 
to write, he promised that he would, provided they would 
all keep a fast, and implore the assistance of God on his 
behalf, which being accordingly performed, he was filled 

* Adv. Haereses, 1. 3, c. 11. See also, I. l. c. 26. Consult likewise 
Euseb. Ecc. Hist. 1. 6. c. 14. 

t Cat. Script. Procem. in Mat. 
T 



274 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART III. 



with the Holy Ghost, and immediately dictated as from 
heaven that Procemium, In the beginning was the JVord, 

Learned men are not agreed as to the precise year when 
the several works of this Apostle were composed, nor even 
which of them was written first. Yet it is generally 
supposed that the book of Revelation was composed 
first, while he was in the island of Patmos in the 
iEgean sea. This holy man seems to have had a larger 
share of the Spirit of illumination, and of course, spake 
more fully concerning the divine nature of the Saviour, than 
any other of the Evangelists. Hence we find, that each of 
his three larger works opens with a description of the 
PERSON of Christ. A few general observations upon 
some parts of these invaluable compositions, may not be 
inexpedient, and will close our evidence from the holy 
scriptures for the divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ. And, as the Gospel is first in importance, we will 
commence our observations on the writings of this Apostle 
with the introduction to that Gospel : 

302.* " In the beginning," says this divine author, 
" was the tcord, and the word was with God, and the ivord 
was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All 
things were made by him ; and without him was not any 
thing made that was made. In him was life ; and the life 
was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness ; and 
the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent 
from God, whose name was John : the same came for a 
witness, to bear witness of tire light, that all men through 
him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to 
bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which 
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was 
in the w T orld, and the world was made by him ; and the 
world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his 
own received him not. But as many as received him, to 
them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to 
them that believe on his name : which were born, not of 
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, 

* Catal. Script. Eccles. in Johann, Dr. Priestley allows that Ebion 
was contemporary with John. Letters to Dr. Horsley, p. 18. 



SECT. 10. 



The Testimony of John, 



275 



but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt 
among us, and we beheld his glory : the glory as of the only- 
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth/' John L 
1—14. 

In what view we are to consider the eloquent Historian 
of the Decline and Fall of the Roman empire I undertake 
not here to determine. Dr. Priestley and others have 
treated him in the light of an Infidel. Be this as it may, 
he is clearly of opinion, that John considered the Logos as 
a divine person. This, indeed, is what every man must 
suppose, I should think, where there is no preconceived 
system to support. Mr. Gibbon's words are : — The Chris- 
tian Revelation, which was consummated under the reign of 
Nerva, disclosed to the world the amazing secret, that the 
Logos, who was with God, from the beginning, and was 
God,' who had made all things, and for whom all things 
had been made, was incarnate in the person of Jesus of 
Nazareth ; who had been born of a virgin, and suffered 
death on the cross. — The pre-existence, and divine perfec- 
tions of the Logos, or Son of God, are clearly defined in the 
gospel of John*. — The same Mr. Gibbon, in his Life, written 
by himself, says, that Dr. Priestley's Socinian shield has 
repeatedly been pierced by the spear of Horsley. 

The term WORD, or LOGOS, made use of here by 
the Apostle, was extremely common among the ancient 
Jews ; and, among other things, frequently signified the 
second hypostasis in the Divine Nature'. The book of Wis- 
dom saith, Thine almighty W ord leapt down from heaven 
out of thy royal throne, as a fierce man of war, into the 
midst of a land of destruction. Chap. IS. 15 — 17- The 
Chaldee paraphrasts speak of the Logos in like manner with 
John in this chapter. Thus, Gen. 31. 22. The WORD 
before the Lord came to Laban. And Exod. 20. 19. Let 
not the Word from before the Lord speak with us, lest we 
die. So Isa. 45. 12. I by my Word have made the earth, 
and created man upon it. And also Exod. 20. 1 9. Let 
not the Lord speak with us by his Word which is before 
the Lord. 

Philo uses the term Logos in the same sense upon 



* Vol. 2. p. 240, 241. 4to, 
T 2 



276 



DEITY OF JESUS* 



PART III. 



various of occasions. Thus : — The Word of God is over 
the whole world, and more ancient than all creatures *. 

Amelius, the Heathen philosopher, applies this introduc- 
tion of John's gospel in like manner to the second hypos- 
tasis f . 

Julian the Apostate, the most inveterate enemy Chris- 
tianity ever had, makes this remarkable confession : — -That 
Word which he (John) saith was God, he also declares 
was Jesus Christ, the person acknowledged by the Baptist J. 
— Mahomet in his Koran saith, Eise, or Jesus, is the Word 
of God ; and his being, the Word of God, is reputed 
among the Saracens as the proper name of Jesus Christ, so 
that no other man is called by his name, but Jesus only, 
whom in Arabic they call Eise §. — Irenseus saith : — John,, 
preaching the one almighty God, and the one only-begot- 
ten Son Christ Jesus, by whom all things were made, saith, 
that this person is the Son of God ; that this person is the 
only-begotten, that this person is the maker of all things, 
that this person is the true light, who lighteth every man, 
that this person is the maker of the world, that this is he 
who came unto his own, that this same person was made 
flesh ; and dwelt among us ||. 

Here we see, this learned and pious martyr, who was 
the disciple of Polycarp, the scholar of John, applies all the 
leading characteristics of these introductory verses to our 
blessed Saviour in the fullest manner. Several other pas- 
sages in the writings of this venerable Father are altogether 
to the same purpose. — Thou art not made, says he, O man, 
neither didst thou always co-exist with God, as his own 
Word hath done — And again : — There is one God the 
Father, who is over all ; and one Word of God, who is 
through all, by whom all things were made ; and this world 
is his property, and was made through him by the will ok 
the Father — for the Word of God was truly the maker of 
the world. — Clemens Alexandrinus says : — -For both are one 
God, because he said, In the beginning the Word was 
with God, and the Word was God§§. 

* De Leg. Alleg. 1. 2. p. 93. 
f See the Heathen Testimonies in the 6th part of this Plea. 
} Jui. apud Cyr. 1. 10* § See Lightfoot's Works, vol. 1. p. 394. 
[j Lib, 1. cap. 1. % Ibid. 1. 2. c. 43. j§ Psed. lib. 1. c. 8, 



r SECT. 10. 



The Testimony of John, 



277 



Novitian speaks to the same purpose : — This is that 
Word, which came unto his own, and Ms own received him 
not. For the world was made by him, and the world knew 
him not, — If Christ was only a man, how, coming into this 
world, came he to his own, since no man could make the 
world*. 

Origen, speaking of this introduction, says, Who, though 
in the beginning he was with God, yet, for the sake of those 
who are shackled by the flesh, and therefore fleshly, was 
himself made flesh, that he might be comprehended by 
those who could not by any other means look upon him, 
inasmuch as he was the Word, and was with God, and was 
'God. — For God, the Word, is not to be comprehended— 
and the Son being incomprehensible, inasmuch as he is 
God the Word, by whom all things were made, and dwelt 
among us f. 

Athenagoras says, The Son of God is the W ord of the 
Father in power and energy; by him and through him were 
all things created.— The Son of God is the Word and Wis- 
dom of God. — From the beginning, God being an eternal 
mind, must have had, from all eternity, the Word in him- 
self, and as the Wisdom and Power, he exerted himself in 
all things J. 

As this introduction is of high importance in ascertain- 
ing the personal character of our blessed Saviour ; every 
effort is used by the patrons of the different schemes of 
religion, to make it speak a language agreeable to the 
system adopted by each party. That the reader therefore 
may have the satisfaction of seeing and judging for himself, 
I will set down at one view the interpretations which are 
given to this passage by the patrons of the several schemes. 

The Sabellian § interpretation runs thus : — u Before 
the creation of the world, Reason did exist, for Reason was 
then in God, indeed was God himself, it not being possible 
for God to be without it ; Reason, 1 say, did exist in God 
before the creation of the world, every portion of which 
was created with the greatest Reason ; nor can any thing be 
produced that has been made without it. — This is Le Clerc's 

* De Trint. c, 13, 14. t Cont. Cels. lib. 6. p. 322, 323. 

$ Apol. p. 10. § Horac Saletanoe, v. 1, p, 43, line 10. 

T 3 



278 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART III. 



interpretation of the three first verses, and in my opinion, 

carries its own refutation on the face of it. 

The Socinian interpretation, which was never heard of 
in the world for fifteen hundred years after Christ, is to this 
effect : — In the beginning of the Gospel, was the man 
Christ Jesus, otherwise called the Word. He was with 
God, having been taken up into heaven before he entered on 
his ministry. And he was God, having the office, honour, 
and title of a God conferred upon him after his resurrection. 
The same was in the beginning of the Gospel with God. 
All things belonging to the Gospel-state were reformed and 
renewed by him ; and without him was there not any thing 
reformed or renewed. — This interpretation, likewise, carries 
its own refutation along with it. 

This view of the Socinian interpretation of the three first 
verses of this introduction is taken from Dr. Waterland's 
Eight Sermons on the Divinity of Christ, and is, I believe, 
as accurate as is necessary. Dr. Priestley, who is at the 
head of his party in this country, is very wavering and change- 
able in his sentiments, and therefore one is at a loss how to 
represent his opinion. He has, however, given us the fol- 
lowing view of this introduction in his Familiar Illustration, 
which seems to be partly Sabellian and partly Socinian : — 
Many of the texts which are usually alledged in proof of 
the divinity of Christ," says this Divine, relate to God the 
Father only. One of the most remarkable of these is 
John 1 . — To me it appears, that the Apostle does not speak 
of the pre-existence of Christ in this place ; but only of 
the power and wisdom of God, which dwelt, or taber- 
nacled in his flesh ; and that he probably meant to condemn 
some false opinions concerning the logos (which is the 
Greek for word) which are known to have prevailed in his 
time. Now, in contradiction to them, the Apostle here 
asserts, that by the Word of God, we are not to understand 
any being distinct from God; but only the power or 
energy of God, which is so much with God, that it pro- 
perly belongs to his nature, and is not at all distinct from 
God himself; and that the same power which produced all 
things was manifest to men in the person of Jesus Christ, 
who was sent to enlighten the ^ odd; that though his 
power made the world, it was not acknowledged by the 



sect. 10. The Testimony of John. 27 9 

world, when it was revealed in this manner, nor even by 
God's peculiar people, the Jews ; and notwithstanding this 
power was made manifest in a more sensible and consonant 
manner than ever it had been before, dwelling in human flesh, 
and tabernacling, or abiding some considerable time among 
us ; so that his glory was beheld, or made visible to mortal 
eyes, and was full of grace and truth. 

I-could wish the reader would consult Mr. Shepherd's 
Free Examination of the Socinian Exposition of these verses, 
where the absurdity of it is made fully to appear. To say, 
as Dr. Priestley does, that these introductory verses of John's 
gospel relate to God the Father only, is an arbitrary and 
unfounded assumption, which no ingenuity can justify. He 
had better assert upon this occasion, as he does upon ano- 
ther, that rather than admit the commonly received inter- 
pretation, he would suppose the whole introduction to be 
an interpolation, or that the old Apostle dictated one thing, 
and his amanuensis wrote another*. — The learned Sandius 
confesses, that Socinus's sense of this introduction to St. 
John's gospel was wholly new and unheard of in the ancient 
church ; not only among the fathers, but the heretics f. 
And the no less learned Dr. Randolph assures us, that it 
is certain all Christian writers have quoted this text, and 
argued from it, as a clear proof of the eternity and divinity 
of the Son. See his Vindication of the Doctrine of the 
Trinity, part 2. p. 30, where the reader will find a consider- 
able number of testimonies from the Fathers, in addition to 
those I have produced above. 

The Arian interpretation comes nearer to the truth, and 
is therefore more plausible and dangerous. For there is as 
much difference between it and the orthodox faith as be- 
tween the self-existent Jehovah and the work of his hands. 
This construction of John, which was never openly propa- 
gated till the beginning of the fourth century, is as follows : 
— In the beginning of all things, before ever the earth or 

* See Defences of Unitarianism for the year 1787, p. 58. 
t See Bishop Stillingfleet on the Trinity, p. 125. Dr. Doddridge says 
upon this introduction to John's gospel — " I am fully sensible of the 
sublime and mysterious nature of the doctrine of Christs's deity, as here 
declared, and it is a matter of conscience with me thus strongly to de- 
clare my belief of it." 



280 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART III. 



the world was made, there existed a very glorious and ex- 
cellent creature, since called the Word, the Oracle of God, 
and Revealer of his will. That excellent person, the first 
whom God of his own good pleasure and free choice gave 
being to, was with God the Father; and he was God, ano- 
ther God, an inferior God, infinitely inferior; but yet truly 
God, as being truly partaker of divine glory then, and fore- 
ordained to have true dominion and authority in God's own 
time. God employed him as an instrument, or under-agent, 
framing and fashioning the world of inferior creatures 5 
and approved of his services so well as to do nothing without 
him *. 

Dr. Clarke's observations upon this introduction to the 
gospel of John are as follow: — In the beginning ; before 
all ages ; before the creation of the world ; before the world 
was, John 17. 5. And verse 3d. of this chapter, All things 
were made by him, and without him ivas not any thing 
made that ivas made. And verse 10. The tvorld ivas 
made by him. Thus was this phrase constantly understood 
in the primitive church. And nothing can be more forced 
and unnatural, than the interpretation of the Socinian wri- 
ters, who understand, In the beginning, to signify only, At 
the first preaching of the gospel: — Was the Word. The 
Word, the Oracle of God, the great Revealer of the will of 
God to mankind. Rev. 1. 5. The faithful witness. Rev. 
3. 14. The faithful and true witness:' Rev. 19. 11. 
Faithful and true. Rev. 19. 13. And his name is called 
The Word of God. The Word, the Interpreter, and Mes- 
senger of his Father. 

And the word ivas with God. Not tv ru Qsw, but v^o? 
rov Qaov, was present with God. Was with the Father 
1 John 1. 2. Had glory with God before the world was, 
John 17. 5. I was by him as one brought up with him, 
Prov. 8. 30. And the Word was God. Was that visible 
person, who under the Old Testament appeared tv po^n 
in the form of God, Phil. 2. 6. In whom the name of 
God was, Exod. 23. 21. God, the angel of the Lord, 
Zech. 12. 8 ; Hosea 12. 3, 4 ; Gen. 31. 11, 13 ; and Gen. 

48 15,. 16*. — Metojca rns rov AvroGsa GeOtatos QiOVoiXiAivos, God by 
* See Waterland's Eight Sermons, p. 14, 15. 



SECT. 10. 



The Testimony of John, 



281 



communication of Divinity from him who is of himself 
God *i 

If this be the right interpretation of the text ; continues 
this author, then the words Ev ot%x u w o Xoyo?, in the begin- 
ning tvas the Word; and o.Xoyo? cutf iymro y the Word tvas 
made flesh ; mean, that the same person, who, in the ful- 
ness of time tvas made man and dwelt with us, did before 
dwell with God, and acted in the capacity of a Divine per- 
son, as the visible image of the invisible God, by whom God 
made all things, and by whom all things were from the 
beginning transacted between God and the creature. But 
on the other side, if the word Xoyo? here signifies, xoyo? 
*v$kh0£toj, the internal reason or wisdom of the Father, which 
opinion was expressly condemned at the council of Sirmium, 
then the words <r&,g iymro, ver. 14. was made flesh, can 
mean only figuratively, that the wisdom of the Father dwelt 
in the man Christ ; which is really making him no other 
than a mere manf. 

The Catholic construction of the three first verses of 
this introduction is to this purpose : — " In the beginning 
before the creation of the world, or the first production of 
any created Being whatever, the Word existed ; and the 
Word was no distant and separate power, estranged from 
God, or unacquainted with him, but he was originally with 
God the Father of all, as one brought up with him. Nay, 
by a generation which none can fully comprehend, the 
Word was himself God, and possessed of a nature truly and 
properly divine. And when it pleased the Father to begin 
the work of creation, all things in the whole compass of 
nature, were made by this Almighty Word ; and without 
him was not so much as one single Being, whether among 
the noblest, or the meanest of God's various works, made, 
that was made/' 

This is the Catholic interpretation. And that it is the 
only true one is evident to me from a variety of considera- 
tions : — 1. From the design of John in writing his gospel. 
This appears both from Irenaeus and Jerome, and also 
from internal evidence, to have been in opposition to the 

* Origcn in Johan : p. 46, Huetii. t Scripture Doctrine, p. 72, 73. 



282 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART III. 



heresies of Cerinthus and Ebion, who denied the divinity of 
the Saviour *. The testimonies of Irenaeus and Jerome we 
have already produced at the beginning of this inquiry into 
the meaning of St. John. The internal marks arise from 
the various terms made use of by the Apostle in this intro- 
duction, whereby it appears, that he applies all the leading 
terms to Christ, which the Cerinthians and other heretics 
usually applied to their imaginary Mons. " He combined 
in the person of him, who was made flesh and dwelt among 
us whatever the earlier Gnostics attributed to the various 
divinities included in their genealogies. In him the whole 
Pleroma is contained. He is Movoyevws, Aoyos, Zm, Xay$, Ax^hau 
He is moreover the Creator, the Enlightner, the Saviour of 
the world : and all who believe in him, he consecrates the 
Sons of God, and raises to the hope of immortal life f." 

2. From the Logos's being a term in frequent use among 
the Jews for the second hypostasis in the Divine nature. — 
This proposition has been proved above, and will be shewed 
more at large, when we come to treat of the opinions of the 
ancient Jews in the sixth part of this work, to which I beg 
leave to refer the reader. 

3. From the Heathen application of the Logos of John to 
a person truly Divine: — For the proof of this proposition also, 
the reader is respectfully requested to turn to the seventh, 
part of this work, where the subject is considered more at 
large, than in the above references. 

4. From the Christian fathers having been unanimously 
of the same opinion.- — The truth of this proposition likewise 
is examined in the eighth part of this work, whither the 
reader is referred for the proof, besides the quotations we 
have already produced. 

5. From the Christian church in all ages and in all 
countries having been of his opinion — This is confessedly 

* Consult the very learned Micbaelis's Introductory Lectures to the 
New Testament, sect. 98—105, where there is a particular account of the 
design of St, John in writing this most invaluable gospel. 

t See' a very ingenions and learned discourse by the Rev. Daniel Veysie, 
preached before the University of Oxford, entitled, " The Doctrine of St. 
John, and the Faith of the first Christians, not Unitarian," p. 27, 21. Dr. 
Waterland also in his Importance of the Doctrine of the Trinity, p. 254, 
&c. has shewn at l?rge how almost every expression in the beginning of 
this Gospel is pointed against the heretics of those days. 



SECT. 10. 



The Testimony of John. 



283 



true both of the Greek, the Roman, and the Protestant 
churches throughout Christendom. There was a temporary 
exception, indeed, when it was " Athanasius against the 
world." But this continued only for a short time, according 
to the inclination of the reigning princes ; and even then 
there was no dispute concerning the pre-existence of the Son 
of God. 

6. From several of the most learned of our own writers 
having given the best and most satisfactory reasons for this 
interpretation. One of these I will produce somewhat at 
large, and refer to several others, who have given a similar 
account of it. The one to whom I would particularly call 
the attention of the reader upon this subject is Archbishop 
Tillotson. In my judgment he has given a very full and 
satisfactory view of the Apostle's whole argument. 

This Prelate has four learned and ingenious discourses 
upon our Lord's divinity, which I would earnestly recommend 
to the repeated perusal of the reader. They have frequently 
been caviled with and nibbled at by the opposers of that 
great doctrine, but have never been fairly and honestly an- 
swered. That is impossible. They will maintain their good 
ground as long as good sense, just interpretation, sound 
religion, and the English language, are known among men. 
As they are not, however, in every hand, I will present the 
reader with his general view of this introduction to the gospel 
of John, which is calculated to throw much light upon the 
whole doctrine of our Saviour's divinity : — " I shall consider 
these two things," says he, " distinctly and severally. First, 
the reason of this name or title of the Word, here given by 
the Evangelist, to our blessed Saviour. And he seems to 
have done in compliance with the common way of speaking 
among the Jews, who frequently called the Messias by the 
name of the Word of the Lord ; of which I might give 
many instances : but there is one very remarkable, in the 
Targum of Jonathan, which renders those words of the 
psalmist, which the Jews aeknowledged to be spoken of the 
Messias, viz. the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my 
right hand^ Sfc. I say it renders them thus, the Lord said 
unto his Word, sit thou on my right hand, 6>c. And so 
likewise Philo the Jew calls him by whom God made the 



284 



DE1TV OP JESUS. 



PART III, 



world, the Word of God, and the Son of God. And Philo 
probably had the same notion from the Jews, which made 
Amelius the Platonist, when he read the beginning of 
John's gospel, to say, This Barbarian agrees with Plato, 
ranking the Word in the order of principles ; meaning that 
he made the Word the principle or efficient cause of the 
world, as Plato also hath done. 

And this title of the word was so famously known to be 
given to the Messias, that even the enemies of Christianity 
took notice of it. Julian the apostate calls Christ by this 
name : and Mahomet in his alcoran gives this name of the 
World to Jesus the son of Mary. But John had probably no 
reference to Plato, any otherwise than as the Gnosticks, 
against whom he wrote, made use of several of Plato's words 
and notions. So that in all probability John gives our bles- 
sed Saviour this title with regard to the Jews more especially, 
who anciently called the Messias by this name. 

2dly. We will in the next place consider, what might 
probably be the occasion why this evangelist makes so frequent 
mention of this title of the Word, and insists so much upon 
it. And it seems to be this : nay, I think that hardly any 
doubt can be made of it, since the most ancient of fathers, 
who lived nearest the time of John, do confirm it to us. 

John, who survived all the apostles, lived to see those 
heresies which sprang up in the beginning of Christianity, 
during the lives of the apostles, grown up to a great height, 
to the great prejudice and disturbance of the Christian re- 
ligion: I mean the heresies of Ebion, and Cerinthus, and 
the several sects of the Gnosticks which began from Simon 
Magus, and were continued and carried on by Valentinus 
and Basilides, Corpocrates and Menander : some of which 
expressly denied the divinity of our Saviour, asserting him 
to have been a mere man, and to have had no manner of 
existence before he was born as Eusebius and Epiphanius 
tell us particularly concerning Ebion : which those who 
hold the same opinion now in our days, may do well to con- 
sider from whence it had its original. 

Others .of them, I still mean the Gnosticks, had cor- 
rupted the simplicity of the Christian doctrine, by mingling 
with it the fancies and conceits of the Jewish cabbalists, 
and of the schools of Pythagoras and Plato, and of the Chal- 



SECT. 10. 



The Testimony of John. 



286 



dean philosophy, more ancient than either : as may be seen 
in Eusebius deprceparat. evang. and by jumbling all these 
together they had framed a confused genealogy of deities, 
which they called by several glorious names, and all of them 
by the general name of jEons or Ages : among which they 
reckoned z««, and Aoy©*, and Mowyuri;, and m^pjua, that is, 
the Life, and the Word, and the Only-begotten, and the 
Fulness, and many other divine powers and emanations 
which they fancied to be successively derived from one ano- 
ther. And they also distinguished between the maker of the 
world whom they called the God of the old testament, and 
the God of the new : and between Jesus, and Christ : Jesus 
according to the doctrine of Cerinthus, as Irenaeus tells us, 
being the man that was born of the virgin, and Christ, or the 
Messias, being that divine power or Spirit which afterwards 
descended into Jesus and dwelt in him. 

If it were possible, yet it would be to no purpose, to 
go about to reconcile these wild conceits with one another; 
and to find out for what reason they were invented, unless it 
were to unite the people with these high swelling words 
of vanity, and a pretence of knowledge falsely so called, as 
the apostle speaks in allusion to the name of Gnosticks, that 
is to say, the men of knowledge, which they proudly as- 
sumed to themselves, as if the knowledge of mysteries of a 
more sublime nature did peculiarly belong to them. 

In opposition to all these vain and groundless conceits, 
John in the beginning of his gospel chooses to speak of our 
Lord ; the history of whose life and death he was going to 
write, by the name or title of the Word, a term very famous 
among those sects : and shews that this Word of God, 
which was also the title the Jews anciently gave to the 
Messias, did exist before he assumed a human nature, and 
even from eternity : and that to this eternal Word did| truly 
belong all those titles which they kept such a canting stir 
about, and which they did with so much senseless nicety 
and subtilty distinguish from one another, as if they had 
been so many several emanations from the deity : and he 
shews that this word of God was really and truly the life, 
and the light, and the fulness, and the only-begotten of the 
Father, ; v. 5. In him was the life, and the life was the 
light of men; and ver. 6. and the light shineth in dark* 



■286 



DEITY OP JESUS. 



PART III. 



?iess 9 and the darkness comprehended it not : and ver. 7? 
8, 9. where the evangelist speaking of John the Baptist, says 
of him, that he came for a witness, to bear witness of the 
light j and that he was not that light 9 but was sent to bear 
witness of that light: and that light toas the true light 
which coming into the world enlightens every man : and 
ver. 14. and ive beheld his glory, the glory as of the only- 
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth: and ver. 
16. And of his fulness tee all receive, Sfc. You see here 
is a perpetual allusion to the glorious titles which they 
gave to their iEons, as if they had been so many several 
deities. 

In short, the evangelist shews that all this fanciful gene- 
alogy of divine emanations, with which the Gnosticks made 
so great a noise, was mere conceit and imagination ; and 
that all these glorious titles did really meet in the Messias 
who is the Word, and who before his incarnation was 
from eternity with God, partaker of his divine nature and 
glory. 

I have declared this the more fully and particularly, be- 
cause the knowledge of it seems to me to be the only true 
key to the interpretation of this discourse of John concern- 
ing our Saviour under the name and title of the Word. 
And surely it is quite a wrong way for any man to go about 
by the mere strength and subtilty of his reason and wit, 
though never so great, to interpret an ancient book, without 
understanding and considering the historical occasion of it, 
which is the only thing that can give true light to it. 

And this was the great and fatal mistake of Socinus, 
to go to interpret scripture merely by criticising upon words, 
and searching into all the senses that they are possibly 
capable of, till he can find one, though never so forced and 
foreign, that will save harmless the opinion, which he was 
before-hand resolved to maintain, even against the most 
natural and obvious sense of the text which he undertakes 
to interpret : just as if a man should interpret ancient 
statutes and records by mere critical skill in words, with- 
out any regard to the true occasion upon which they 
were made, and without any manner of knowledge and 
insight into the history of the age in which they were 
written, 



SECT. 10. 



The Testimony of John. 



287 



Such are the reasonings of Tillotson upon this intro- 
duction to John's gospel. To me they are perfectly satis- 
factory : and, when considered in connection with the great 
chain of evidence from the beginning of the world to the 
present time, they contain an unquestionable proof of the 
eternal divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ *. 

303. * " Jesus did not commit himself unto them, be- 
cause he knew all men, and needed not that any should 
testify of man : for he knew what was in man" John 2. 
24, 25. — In this passage the Apostle bears witness to the 
omniscience of his divine Master, which is an attribute 
peculiar to the Deity. 

304. * " Jesus knowing that the Father had given all 
things into his hands, and that he ivas come from God, 
and went to God." John 13. 3. — In these words John de- 
clares the pre-existence and omnipotence of Christ : an 
omnipotence indeed derived from his Father; but this is 
what all are agreed in : seeing the Son of God confessedly 
acts by a power derived from his Father, as truly as every 
earthly offspring acts by a power derived from his earthly 
parent. — We may observe farther, that this same divine 
author tells us expressly, that he wrote his gospel in order 
to prove Jesus to be Christ, and the Son of God, and that 
believing we might have life through his name. 

305. " Many other signs truly," says he, "did Jesus 
in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in 
this book : but these are written, that ye might believe that 
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God : and that believing ye 
might have life through his name." John 20. 30, 31. — This 
is a proper close to a book, where the author had first in- 
sisted on the personal dignity of the Redeemer, and then 
confirmed what he had advanced by an induction of particu- 
lar and supernatural actions, together with a variety of 
reasonings upon those actions. And, upon the whole, it 

* For further evidence on this important passage of holy scripture, 
consult Burnet on the Articles, art. 2, p. 54—56 ; Bull's Judgmeut of the 
Catholic church, c. 2 ; Grotius, Lightfoot, Hammond, and Whitby on the 
place. See also Dr. Randolph's Vindication, p. 2. p- 23—32. The incom- 
parably learned Bishop Pearson hath vindicated the orthodox interpreta- 
tion with his usual ability in his Exposition of the Creed, p. 116—119, See 
likew ise Mr , Charles Leslie s unanswerable reasonings on these verses of 
St. John in his excellent Dialogues on the Socinian Controversy. 



288 



DEITY OP JESUS. 



PARr nr. 



satisfactorily appears, that the person, of whom the Apostle 
had been writing, was indeed the true and proper Son of 
God, who was in the beginning with God, and who was 
God, but who, in the fulness of time, was made flesh for 
the redemption of the human race. 



SECT. 11. 



The Testimony of John, 



289 



PART THIRD, 



SECTION XI. 
— ♦ 

THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST ARGUED FROM SOME PASSAGES 
IN THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN. 



Humanity and Deity of Christ. — The Docefce, Cerlnthians 
and JSbiotiites censured. -^-The Apostle maintains that 
Jesus Christ is the only Propitiation for Sin. — Why 
Socinians deny the Atonement. — View of the Doctrine 
given by Dr. Samuel Johnson. — Displays the infinity 
of the love of God. — Jesus one with the Father and 
the Holy Ghost. — Objections answered. — Authorities 
cited : — Reference to other authorities. — Jesus Christ 
the True God and Eternal Life. — Ojnnion of Dod~ 
dridge — Clarke and JVJt iston* 

This same Apostle begins his first Epistle with a de- 
scription of the divinity and humanity of Jesus, and ends it 
with the strongest declaration of his supreme Deity, And 
all this he does in opposition to the several heresies of the 
age in which he lived. For, it is well known by the learn- 
ed, there were some then, who denied the divinity of our 
Saviour, and others who run into the contrary extreme, and 
denied his humanity. In opposition to which errors, John, 
by his apostolical authority, asserts both the one and the 

u 



290 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART nr. 



other, at the very opening of this divine discourse. He 
had been peculiarly loved by his master, and he retained 
a peculiar concern for the honour of his master. And as he 
had introduced his gospel with an account of his divine 
nature, and then proceeded to his incarnation, so here he 
introduces this epistle with an account of his divinity and 
humanity jointly: — 

305.* u That which was from the beginning, which we 
have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word 
of Life -j for the Life was manifested, and we have seen it, 
and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life which 
was with the Father, and was manifested unto us; that 
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you." — 
1 John 1. 4. — This is a description both of the Saviour's 
humanity and divinity *, " That which was from the be- 
ginning — the Word of life — that Eternal life which was with 
the Father, and was manifested unto us" — are all expres- 
sions of similar import with several of those in the introduc- 
tion to his gospel, and are intended to oppose the heresy of 
those persons, who said Jesus Christ was nothing more than 
a mere man, and had no existence before he was born. So 
the expressions— " which we have heard — which we have 
seen with our eyes —which we have looked upon — and our 
hands have handled of the word of life" — are all expres- 
sions intended to oppose the heresy of those, who denied 
his real humanity, and said he had no body, but only in ap- 
pearance. 

306*. The next place in this epistle, which asserts the 
divinity of the Son of God, is that in the beginning of the 
second chapter, where it is said 

* The holy Apostle plainly censures the same heretics (the Docetae, 
Cerinthians and Ebionites) in the first Epistle also, and calls them all by 
that one name of the Antichrists, as Irenaeus,Tertullian, and others of the 
ancients have observed. See Bishop Bull's Judgment of the Catholic 
Church of the three first, centuries concerning the necessity of believing, 
that our Lord Jesus Christ is true God chap. 2, sect. 5, where there is an 
admirable illustration of the several phrases in this epistle which allude to 
the heresies then prevailing in the church. The passage is too long for 
insertion here, otherwise it would throw much light upon the Apostle's 
i easonbag. Consult too Waterland's Importance of the Doctrine of the 
Trinity, chap. 6, p. 262—272, where the design of the whole epistle is 
well illustrated. 



SECT. II. 



The Testimony of John, 



291 



If any man sin we have an advocate with the 
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous : and he is the propitia- 
tion for our sins : and not for ours only, but also for the sins 
of the whole world." 1 John 2. 1, 2.— Now, though this 
passage does not say in direct terms, that Jesus is more 
than man, yet it declares such things of him as cannot be 
predicted of any mere man. For the atonement for the 
sins of the world, which Jesus made by the sheding of his 
blood, and which is so strongly expressed in these words, 
implies absolutely the super-humanity of Jesus. Common 
sense will tell any person, that man cannot atone for man. 
Hence we find, that all the Socinians, who deny the divinity 
ot Christ, deny the atonement of Christ For the atone- 
ment for sin implies the divinity. If therefore these words 
assert the doctrine of the atonement, they assert at the 
same time the doctrine of the divinity. They stand or fall 
together*. 

I transcribe here the short view of the doctrine of Atone- 
ment which Dr. Samuel Johnson gave to his friend Mr. 
Boswell : — Whatever difficulty there may be in the con- 
ception of vicarious punishments, it is an opinion which had 
possession of mankind in all ages. There is no nation that 
has not used the practice of sacrifices. Whoever, therefore, 
denies the propriety of vicarious punishments, holds an 
opinion which the sentiments and practice of mankind have 
contradicted, from the beginning of the world. The great 
sacrifice for the sins of mankind was offered at the death 
of the Messiah, who is called in scripture, The Lamb of 
God, that iaketh away the sins of the world. To judge of 
the reasonableness of the scheme of redemption, it must be 
considered as necessary to the government of the universe, 
that God should make known his perpetual and irreconcile- 
able detestation of moral evil. He might indeed punish, 

* See a volume of sermons has lately been published upon the Atone- 
ment made by Christ for the sins of mankind by the Rev. Daniel Vcysie,* 
which were preached at the Bampton Lecture. In my judgment they are 
well-reasoned discourses, and perfectly conclusive. 

The Rev. Caleb Evan's three discourses on the same subject are more 
popular, and in a strain much more evangelical. I do not recollect to have 
seen any treatise upon the subject so concise, so scriptural, so satisfactory, 
and so consolatory, to an awakened mind, 

U 2 



292 



DE1TV OF JESUS. 



PART III. 



and punish only the offenders : but as the end of punishment 
is not revenge of crimes, but propagation of virtue, it was 
more becoming the divine clemency to find another manner 
of proceeding, less destructive to man, and at least equally 
powerful to promote goodness. The end of punishment is 
to reclaim and warn. That punishment will both reclaim 
and warn, which shews evidently such abhorrence of sin in 
God, as may deter us from it, or strike us with dread of 
vengeance when we have committed it. This is effected by 
vicarious punishments. Nothing could more tully testify the 
opposition between the nature of God and moral evil, or 
more amply display his justice, to men and angels, to all 
orders and successions of beings, than that it was necessary 
for the highest and purest nature, even for Divinity itself, 
to pacify the demands of vengeance, by a painful death ; of 
which the natural effect will be, that when justice is appeas- 
ed, there is a proper place for the exercise of mercy 5 and 
that such propitiation shall supply, in some degree, the im- 
perfections of our obedience, and the inefficacy of our 
repentance. For, obedience and repentance, such as we 
can perform, are still necessary. Our Saviour has told us, 
that he did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil : to 
fulfil the typical law, by the performance of what those types 
had foreshewn ; and the moral law, by precepts of greater 
purity and higher exaltation.- — The peculiar doctrine of 
Christianity, is, that of an universal sacrifice, and perpetual 
propitiation. Other prophets only proclaimed the will and 
the threatenings of God. Christ satisfied his justice *. 

307. " Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he 
laid down his life for us f." 1 John 3. 16. — Some copies 
of this epistle omit the words of God, and hence it has been 
thought that they arc an interpolation. Whether this is the 
case or otherwise I undertake not to determine. It is cer- 
tain, however, that the context requires the words to make 
sense of the passage. Nor will any other fill it up with 
equal propriety. 

30S. " Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit 
that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of 

Sfc Life of Johnson by Boswell, vol. 2. p. 404. 
t Consult Burgh's Inquiry for an able defence of this reading, p. 115 — 
119. See Doddridge in loco, where he inclines to reject the common 
reading* 



SECT. 11 



The Testimony of John. 



293 



God : and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ 
is come in the flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit 
of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, 
aud even now already it is in the world." 1 John 4. 2, 3. 
— This language is perfectly proper on the supposition of 
Christ's pre-existence ; but very improper on the contrary 
supposition : for how could a mere man come otherwise 
than in the flesh f ? 

309. " In this was manifested the love of God towards 
us, because that God sent his onl) -begotten Son into the 
world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not 
that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son 
to bethe propitiation for our sins. — And the Father, sent the 
Son to be the Saviour of the world." 1 John 4. 9, 10, 14. — 
Where was the extraordinary love of God in sending his 
Son, if that Son was a mere man like all other men? If such 
only is their meaning, the scriptures mock and deceive us. 
But if Jesus is possessed of a divine nature, and was with 
the Father before the world existed ; and if he assumed 
human nature, and in that nature made a real, full, and 
proper atonement for the sins of the world, then we may 
easily discover the love of God to mankind in sending his 
Son to die, and all those scriptures which speak of God's 
singular love to his creatures, are easy to be comprehended, 
and admit of the most reasonable interpretation. 

310. " For there are three that bear record in heaven, 
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost : and these three 
are one." 1 John 5. 7- 

Though we grant this text is not quoted by the Nicene 
Council against the Arians, and is not found in many 
ancient copies : nay, though we should grant, that it was 
not originally in the Epistle of John, it is, however, a good 
argument for the doctrine of the Trinity. For if it was a 
marginal note, and so crept into the text, this, however, 
shows it to have been the opinion of the most ancient and 
primitive Christians, who put this comment to the text. If 
they say this was put in by the orthodox, it was done in 
opposition to the heretics • this was a sufficient evidence 
of their firm belief of the doctrine of the Trinity them 



* Price's Sermons, p. 136> 

v 3 



294 



DEITY OF JEStfS. 



PART III. 



But if this text was expunged by tlie Arians, who as St. 
Ambrose observes of them, were remarkable for this sort of 
fraudulent dealing with the scriptures, then there was a great 
deal of reason for restoring it *. 

Be it genuine or otherwise, the same sentiment is found 
in other parts of scripture, and the ancient Christian writers 
abound with expressions of a similar nature. The Histo- 
rians of the martyrdom of Ignatius say: — Glorifying our 
Jesus Christ, through whom, and with whom glory and 
power be to the Father, with the Holy Ghost, in the holy 
church forever and ever. Amen. — Polycarp died expressing 
his gratitude to God in these words : — I praise thee, I bless 
thee, I glorify thee, through the eternal High Priest Jesus 
Christ thy beloved Son, through whom, to thee, with him, 
in the Holy Ghost, be glory both now, and to all succeeding 
ages. Amen. — Tertullian has many passages like unto this 
of John : — I do testify, says he, that the Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost, are undivided one from another f. Again: — 
Two Gods or two Lords we never have named with our 
mouth : not as if the Father were not God, and the Son 
God, and the Holy Ghost God, and each of them God J. 
Again : — I every where hold one substance in three cohering 
together §. He alludes also to this text when he says :— « 
These three are one (essence) not one (person) ; in like 
manner as our Lord hath said, I and the Father are one 
(essence), having regard only to the unity of substance, not 
to the singularity of number |(. St. Cyprian seems to have 
a full quotation of this text, with very little variation : — - 
The Lord saith, land the Father are one. And again con- 
cerning the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, it is 
written — And these three are one 

Upon this declaration, so full and absolute, and accom* 
panied by such testimonies I will make no comment, but 
leave the reader to his own reflections. It should seem, if 
the Father is God, so is the Son, and so is the Holy Ghost, 
and yet they are not three, but one God. And whether the 
text is genuine or spurious, it is so much in the spirit of 

* See Fox on the place for the above quotation, 
t Adv. Prax. cap. 9. % Ibid. cap. 13. $ Ibid. 12, 

Jj Ibid. cap. 25. f De Unit. Ec, liber. 



SECT. 11. 



The Testimony of John, 



295 



several other, that the doctrine of Christ's divinity, and the 
Holy Trinity neither stand nor fall with it *. 

311* "We know that the Son of God is come, and 
hath given us an understanding that we may know him that 
is true : and we are in him that is true, even in his Son 
Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little 
children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen." 1 John 
5. 20. — Such is the conclusion of this most divine Epistle. 
The author had opened it with a declaration of the Re- 
deemer's compound person, and now he closes all his 
cautions and observations with another solemn declaration 
of the real and proper Deity of the Son of God. For the 
whole context requires that these w r ords should be under- 
stood of the Son, rather than of the Father. 

Dr. Doddridge observes upon this passage, that it is an 
argument of the Deity of Christ, which almost all who have 
wrote in its defence have urged : and which, I think, none 
who have opposed it, have so much as appeared to answer. 

Dr. Clarke has treated this text with a great degree of 
disingenuousness. See his Scripture Doctrine f. It is 
the more remarkable that he should apply this passage 
to the Father of our Lord, seeing he speaks such strong 
things of the Deity of the Son in other parts of his 
writings. In his Reply to the Objections of Robert Nelson, 

* Whoever wishes to see what has been advanced for and against the 
authenticity of this text may consult Mills, Hammond, Pool, Henry, and 
Guise in loco. See too Jones on the Trinity, ch. 3. sect, 18. There are 
various other persons who have written on both sides of this question. 
The last writers who have embarked in the controversy are Mr, Arch- 
deacon Travis in his Letters to Mr. Gibbon in favour of it, and Messrs. 
Porson and Marsh against it. Much is to be said on both sides. In point 
of manuscripts, however, the evidence, I think, is clearly against it. But 
the context seems to me plainly to want the passage. The evidence of 
Tertuilian and Cyprian too is very considerable. As this is the case, it 
would be wrong to give up the text, but imprudent to lay any very serious 
stress upon it, in a controversy of any magnitude. 

The reader will find a pretty accurate compendium of the arguments 
both for and against the authenticity of this warmly contested passage in 
the notes of the New Testament in Greek and English, printed for 
Roberts in 1729, The author seems to have been an Arian, and discovers 
in places great bitterness of spirit against those who differ from him, and 
therefore should be read with caution, but upon the whole, it is a work 
of some ability. He appears to wander far from the trutU in his iiiterprgi 
tation of some of the prophecies. 

t Page 51, 



296 



DEITY OF JESUS* 



PART 111. 



Esq. he saith-^-The Son is by communication of divine 
power and dominion from the Father, really and truly God. 
Page 50. — He is really and truly God. p. 52. — The Son is 
true God, by communication of divinity from the Father, 
p. 62. — Christ is by nature truly God : as truly, as man is 
by nature truly man*. His friend Whitson also, in his 
Vindication of the Council of Nice, saith, Jesus Christ is 
truly God and Lord.— He is a God by nature ; and was 
such before his incarnation, nay, before the creation of the 
world f. 



* Page 8ic 



f Page. 8, 



sect. 12. Tlie Testimony of John, 297 



PART THIRD* 

- ♦ • 

SECTION XII. 

THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST ARGUED FROM SOME PASSAGES IN 
THE BOOK OF REVELATION. 



The book of Revelation a portion of the Sacred volume. — 
The Seven Spirits before the throne. — Personal dignity 
and glory of Jesus. — He is God, eternal and omnipo- 
tent.—- The visible and invisible worlds are under his 
controul. — Influence of the truth upon Dr. Doddridge, 

* — Rev. 2. 23. compared with 1 Kings 8. 39. an impreg- 
nable proof of the Saviours absolute Deity. — All the 
angels of Heaven ivorship Him. — John calls him-" • 
the Word of God — King of Kings — the Great God — 
the Temple of Heaven — Light of Heaven — Judge of 
the World — Root and Offspring of David. — And the 
Bright and Morning Star. — Closes the code of Scrip- 
ture with a direct Prayer to our Lord Jesus 
Christ. 



The book of Revelation is one of the most extraordi- 
nary and best authenticated, of all the compositions in the 
sacred volume, and is supposed to have been written the 
last of all, and yet is the most curiously constructed of all. 
It is composed with more than human skill, and has more 
human authority than any book of the New Testament 
besides^ even from the time it was delivered *. 



* Mede p. 602, 



298 



DEITY OP JESUS. 



PART III. 



I do not find any other book of the New Testament so 
strongly attested, or commented upon so early as this of the 
Apocalypse*. 

It opens with a description of the person of Jesus, in his 
present glorified humanity, and displays many of the secrets 
of the invisible world. In the first chapter we have a prayer 
to the three persons jointly, Father, Son, and Spirit, with an 
ascription of praise to the Son alone ; and then a particular 
account of the person of that Son, as he appeared to his ser- 
vant John. 

312.* " John to the seven churches which are in Asia ; 
Grace be unto you, and peace from him which is, and which 
was, and which is to come ; and from the seven spirits 
which are before his throne ; and from Jesus Christ, 
who is the faithful witness, and the first-begotten of the 
dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth : Unto him 
that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 
and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; 
to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." 
Rev. 1.4— 6. 

By the seven Spirits must be meant one or more persons, 
since he wishes or declares grace and peace from them. 
Now either this must be meant of angels, or of the Holy 
Ghost. There are no where prayers made, or blessings 
given, in the name of angels. This were, indeed, a wor- 
shipping them ; against which there are express authorities, 
not only in the other books of the New Testament, but in 
this book in particular. Nor can it be imagined that angels 
would have been named before Jesus Christ: so then it 
remains, that seven being a number, imports both variety and 
perfection, and that was the sacred number among the Jews, 
this is a mystical expression; which is no extraordinary thing 
in a book that is all mysterious. And it imports one per- 
son, from whom all that variety of gifts, administrations* 
and operations, that were then in the church, did flow : and 
this is the Holy Ghost. But as to his being put in order be* 
fore Christ, as upon the supposition of an equality, the going 
out of the common order is no great matterf; so since there 

* Sir Isaac Newton's Observations on Baniel ? p* M9» Consult 
Lardner's credibility, passing for its authority, 
f Burnet on the Art. p. 48. 



SECT. 12. 



The Testimony of John . 



299 



was to come after this a full period that concerned Christ, it 
might be a natural way of writing to name him last. 

313. * After this prayer to the three persons, Father, 
Son, and Spirit, and ascription of praise to the Son alone, 
comes in a description of the person of the Judge of the 
world. — " Behold, he cometh with clouds ; and every eye 
shall see him, and they also which pierced him : and all 
kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him : even so. 
Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the 
ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which ivas, and which 
is to come, the Almighty" Rev. 1. 7 3 8. Here we see, 
two of the incommunicable perfections of God are expressly 
applied to the Redeemer of mankind. It will, therefore, 
follow, that he is, together with his Father, God eternal, and 
omnipotent. 

All the ancients, both before and after the council of 
Nice, understand this text of God the Son. I will give a 
specimen here again of their sentiments. Hermas tells us, 
that the name of the Son of God is great and without 
bounds, and the whole world is supported by it*. — Barnabas 
saith, Christ is Lord of the whole earthf. — Tertullian saith, 
Christ is in his own right God Almighty, as he is the Word 
of Almighty God|. — Clemens Alexandrinus hath this saying, 
He can want nothing, who hath the Word, the Almighty 
God. For the Word is a possession that has nothing want- 
ing to it§. — Origen hath the following observation : — That 
you may know the omnipotence of the Father and the Son 
to be one and the same as he is one and the same God and 
Lord with the Father, hear John speaking in the Revelation 
in this manner — These things saith the Lord God who is, 
and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. For who 
is the Almighty that is to come, but Christ ||? 

314. * " I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last" 
This is repeated more than once, with some little variation. 
" I am the first and the last. — I have the keys of hell and of 
death. — To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the 
tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God.-— I 
will give thee a crown of life." Rev. 1. 11. — These expres- 
sions seem to denote, not only the eternity of the Son of 

* Sim. 9. sect. 14, t Epist- sect. 5. $ Cont. Prax. c, 17. , 

j Padag. c, 7> |i De princip, lib, 1 p, 673, 



300 



Deity of jesus. 



part III. 



God, but that all the invisible world is absolutely under his 
controul ; that he is the Lord of it, killing and making 
alive at his own pleasure ; and that it is his province to 
reward or doom all the children of men ss he judges meet. 
These appear to be characters infinitely unsuitable to mere 
glorified humanity. 

Dr. Doddridge says on this verse, That these titles. 
Alpha and Omega, first and last, should be repeated so 
soon, in a connection which demonstrates they are given to 
Christ, will appear very remarkable, whatever sense be given 
to the eighth verse. The argument drawn, in the preceding 
note upon it, would have been strong, wherever such a pas- 
sage as this had been found ; but its immediate connection 
with this, greatly strengthens it. And I cannot forbear re- 
cording it, that this text has done more than any other in the 
Bible, toward preventing me from giving into that scheme, 
which would make our Lord Jesus Christ no more than a 
deified creature, 

315.* "All the churches shall know that I am he 
which searcheth the reins and heart." Rev. 2. 23. If this 
declaration of our Saviour be compared with what king Solo- 
mon says of God — " Thou, even thou o/ilt/, O God, knowest 
the hearts of all the children of men." 1 Kings 8. 39. — it 
will follow, that Christ challengeth to himself one of the in- 
communicable properties of the Divine Being. And I think 
every candid person must allow, that language like the 
several passages above, very ill becomes the character of any 
merely human creature. 

After the Son of God had thus made his appearance, 
spoken in the highest style of Deity, and dictated an epistle 
to each of the seven churches in Asia, in which these, and 
various other similar declarations of the Son of God, occur ; 
we are favoured with a view of the heavenly inhabitants ; 
and there we see Jesus seated upon a throne, and receiving 
from all the angelic world equal honour and praise with his 
everlasting Father. 

316* " After this I looked, and, behold, a door was 
opened in heaven. And, behold, a throne was set in heaven, 
and one sat on the throne.— And lo, in the midst of the 
throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the 
elders, stood a Lamb, as it had been slain : and he came 



SECT. \2. 



The Testimony of John. 



301 



and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon 
the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four 
beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, 
having every one of them harps, and golden vials fuU of 
odours, which are the prayers of saints*. And they sung 
a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and 
to open the seals thereof : for thou wast slain, and hast 
redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and 
tongue, and people, and nation. — And I beheld, and I 
heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and 
the elders : and the number of them was ten thousand times 
ten thousand, and thousands of thousands ; saying with a 
loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive 
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, 
and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in 
heaven, and on the earth, and such as are in the sea, and 
all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, 
and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the 
throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever/' Rev. 4th 
and 5th chapters. Let men in this world treat the Saviour 
of mankind with what indignity they may, it is evident from 
these passages, that the angels in heaven are perfectly well 
acquainted with his nature, and the claims he hath upon 
their services. " All the angels of God worship him ! M And 
shall ungrateful man, whom he hath redeemed at the price 
of his blood, refuse him that honour ? 

3 17.* In another part of this extraordinary book, the 
Lord Jesus is represented as the great Vicegerent of his 
Father, and heading all the inhabitants of the upper world : 
** 1 -saw heaven opened ; and, behold, a white horse : and 
he that sat upon him was called, Faithful and True — and 
his name is called, the Word of Godf. And the armies 
which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, 
clothed in fine linen, white and clean. — And he had on his 
resture, and on his thigh, a name written, King of kings y 
and Lord of lords." Rev. 19, passim. 

* Here is both worship and prayer offered to the Lamb —the prayers 
of all the saints. 

tDoes not this title, given here to our Saviour, amount to demonstra- 
tion, that he is the person described in the lirst chapter of this same au- 
thor's gospel, under the character of the Word ? 



302 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART III, 



318* Jesus is called " The great God," Rev. 19. 17. 
in conformity with Isaiah's " Mighty God/' and Paul's 
" Great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.*" 

319:* Soon after this, we find the Son, in common 
with the Father, is spoken of as the temple of heaven ; 
which, though a mode of speaking highly figurative, is yet 
ascribing an honour to the Son, which appears incompatible 
with simple humanity : — " And an angel talked with me, 
saying, Come hither, and I will shew thee the bride., the 
Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit, and 
shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem. And I saw 
no temple therein : for the Lord God Almighty and the 
Lamb are the temple of it." Rev. 21. 9, 10, 22. 

320.* It is further remarkable, that as the Lord God 
Almighty and the Lamb are in common considered as the 
temple of the heavenly Jerusalem, so the Lamb in common 
with God is the light of the city : — " The city hath no need 
of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it : for the glory 
of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." 
Rev. 21. 23. 

321.* It may be observed still farther, that by a 
similar manner of speaking, if the throne of God is mentioned 
so is that of the Lamb ; and what is very remarkable, is, 
that God and the Lamb are said to have but one throne. 
" And the angel shewed me a pure river of water of life, 
clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of 
the Lamb. — The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be 
in the city." Rev. 22. 1,3. 

322. "The Lord God of the holy prophets sent this angel 
to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be 
done." Rev. 22. 6. Compare this with the 16th. verse : 
<c I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these 
things in the churches." The angel that appeared to John 
was the angel of the Lord God, and the Lord God sent him : 
but he was the angel of Jesus, and Jesus sent him: therefore 
Jesus is the Lord God of the holy prophets.* 

This most sublime book shuts up the canon of scripture 
with several expressions, very unsuitable, as it should seem, 

* Consult Waterland's Eight Sermons for a vindication of this appli- 
cation, and for the testimonies of the fathers, p t 214—218; 
% See Jones on the Trinity, p- 5- 



sect. 12* The Testimony of John, 



303 



to the character of mere glorified humanity, but perfectly 
consistent and proper, if Jesus is possessed of essential divi- 
nity. 

323. " Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with 
me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 
22. 12. — Here he speaks as the Judge of the world, and the 
Arbiter of the final fates of men. 

324. * "I am Alpha and Omega, the begimiing and 
the end, the first and the last: 3 Rev. 22. 13. Here the 
Son of God proclaims his own eternity. 

325. * " I am the root and the offspring of David." 
Rev. 22. 16. This we have noticed before, as expressive 
of the Redeemer's pre-existence. As God he was David's 
Lord, as man David's Son. 

326'. " I am the bright and morning Star" Rev. 22. 
16. I am he that 'was prophesied of by Balaam as the 
" Star which should arise out Jacob." Num. 24. 17 ; and 
by Malachi, 4. 2. as " The Sun of righteousness," which 
should enlighten all the ends of the earth. 

327. * " Surely I come quickly. " Amen. Even so 
come, Lord Jesus." Rev. 22. 20. This is a direct prayer 
to the Saviour of mankind to hasten his coming. The apos- 
tle then closes the whole book with another more indirect 
one for his readers. 

328. The grace of oar Lord Jesus Christ be with you 
all. Amen." 

We have now gone through the whole Bible, and traced 
the personal character of Jesus from the beginning of the 
world to the close of the divine canon. We have seen what 
were the expectations of mankind before he came — what 
were his own pretensions, both while he was here upon 
earth, and after he ascended into heaven — what the declara- 
tions of God, of angels, of devils, and of men, concerning 
him, during his abode here below — and what the represent- 
ations of his disciples have been since he left our world, when 
they were under the fullest degree of spiritual illumination. 
The reader will do himself and the subject the justice to 
review the whole, and then form his judgment according to 
evidence. 

* A plain and serious Christian, says Dr. Davies, who Is 
more conversant with his Bible than with controversial wri- 



304 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART HI. 



tings, must be at a loss to conceive, how any persons 
acknowledging the divine original of the Scripture, are able 
to evade the force of the numerous testimonies they contain 
for the deity and atonement of Christ. 

But, possibly, such a person is not aware, of the amazing 
powers of a certain instrument, which learned men have 
invented, for their assistance in the interpretation of Scrip- 
ture, and which is called "Biblical Criticism. By a dexterous 
use of this, they are able to elicit from the Scriptures almost 
any meaning they please. It were easy to adduce some very 
curious examples of this. Criticism asserts, " that Scripture 
gives no countenance to the supposed existence of holy angels, 
or of apostate angels, or devils ; that they represent man 
as consisting entirely of a material body, without the addition 
of a distinct intellectual soul or spirit ; and that, conse- 
quently, he becomes totally extinct at death/' — To recon- 
cile the Scripture to such opinions as these, a new transla? 
tion shall be proposed of such passages as appear to teach 
the opposite sentiments ; or the original text may have been 
corrupted, and must be amended ; the literal meaning must 
be rejected, and the language admitted to be figurative or 
metaphorical. Should any text continue stubborn, and 
refuse to submit to the gloss imposed, it shall be pronounced 
an interpolation, and must be expunged. Biblical criticism 
will use its pruning-knife unmercifully, and iop off not only 
single verses, but whole chapters. Nay, it has been intima- 
ted by one bold critic, that four gospels are a superfluous 
incumbrance ; that three of them may be well spared, and 
one retained as abundantly sufficient. — Do not these attempts 
to curtail and garble the Scriptures, discover, on the parts of 
the critic, a consciousness, if not an avowal, that the plain 
and unconstrained language of Scripture militates against 
him. 

The same gentlemen are, likewise, much influenced 
by a sentiment, which some are willing to regard as an axiom 
in theology 5 « that where mystery begins, faith and religion 
end." But is there an attribute of the great and blessed 
God, the investigation of which, will not involve the human 
mind in mysteries and difficulties, beyond its ability to un- 
ravel ? 



skct. 12. The Testimony of John. 



305 



God is eternal. Can you conceive of a duration in 
which there is no succession, and to which there can be no 
addition ? Or, dare you, absurdly and blasphemously, to say, 
that the eternal God is older this day, than when he made 
the world ? — God is omnipresent. Can reason inform you, 
how the spiritual essence of God fills heaven and earth, 
without extension or division into parts ? or, even discern 
its possibility ? — God is omnipotent. Can reason form an 
idea of a power, no more exhausted by the creation of a 
world, than by the production of an insect ?— -God is omni- 
scient. But, who can comprehend that knowledge, which 
has been always complete and perfect ; and incapable of 
improvement, by the accession of a single idea before un- 
known? 

Is it not a maxim of indisputable authority, that nothing 
can exist without a cause ? And, is it not on this principle, 
that reason asserts the existence of God ? Because there 
are beings that exist now, you justly infer, that something 
must ever have existed. As it is absurd to suppose an infi- 
nite succession of causes, (since, in every series, there must 
be a first member, with which it commences,) you are con- 
strained to acknowledge a first cause, which owes its exis- 
tence to no other, and that is — GOD. For every effect, 
you require a proportionable cause. Assign, therefore, if 
you are able, the origin or cause of the existence of the 
eternal God. You will very naturally mention his necessary 
existence and self-origination. But, is there any distinct 
idea conveyed by those terms, which the human mind is 
able to grasp or comprehend ? The existence of creatures 
compels us to admit the existence of an Almighty Creator ; 
but their existence is only the evidence of his existence, and, 
in no respect, the reason or the cause of it. 

Is there not here a difficulty, which reason is utterly 
unable to solve, and a mystery altogether unfathomable } 
Must not reason submit to receive the assistance of faith, 
before it can fully embrace the first and the most important 
of all truths — that there is a God ? Why, then, should not 
the testimony of divine revelation to the Deity of Christ, 
and the mystery of his incarnation, be allowed equal autho* 
rity, as is granted to the conclusions of reason, for the 



306 



MITY OF JESUS. 



FART III. 



existence of God ; since the one is not attended with greater 
difficulties than the other ? In short, if we are determined 
not to part with the first principles of religion, aspiring reason 
must bow to revelation, and accept the alliance of faith. As 
to my myself, I pray, that my mind may be always influen- 
ced by the sentiment so beautifully expressed by the excellent 
and pious Doctor Watts y 

'* Where Reason fails with alt her powers* 
There faith prevails, and love adores."* 

• Dr. B. Davis's Sermon on the Deity of the Saviour, p. 45-~«49» 



SECT. 1. 



Deity of the Holy Spirit. 



307 



PART FOURTH. 



SECTION L 



A VIEW OF THE DOCTRINE CONCERNING THE HOLY SPIRIT, 
FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT. 



The Holy Spirit an Agent in the natural and moral crea- 
tion. — Opinions of Milton — Athenagoras- — Tertullian 
— Origin — Gregory JVazianzen — and Ba^il.- — Attri- 
butes of the Holy Spirit. — His operations. — Seneca 
and Cicero quoted. — Prerogation of the Holy Spirit. — 
His influences and prerogatives objects of devotion.—* 
Testimonies of inspired writers. — All concur to prove 
that the Holy Spirit is JEHOVAH. — References to 
the most valuable authors who have ivritten upon the 
divinity of the Spirit. 

IN examining the doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit, 
it will be proper to trace it through the several ages of the 
world, as we have aheady done in the former case, because 
the manifestation grows more clear, as we advance towards 
the perfection of the Christian dispensation. The Bible 
opens with it. 

329.* " In the beginning God created the heavens and 
the earth ; and the earth was without form and void ; and 
the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters," Gen. 
1. 1, 2. 

X 2 



3Q8 



DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, 



PART IV. 



From this declaration we learn, that the Holy Spirit was 
an agent in the natural, as well as moral creation. For it is 
evident the expression cannot he understood of the air or 
wind, because that element was not as yet separated from 
the chaotic mass. See Mai. 2. 16. It is remarkable that 
tTie ancient Jews understood this of the Spirit of the Mes- 
siah*. 

The Spirit of God moved upon — brooded over, as a hen 
over her chickens. Milton has given us the exact idea, 

" And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer 

" Before all temples the upright heart and pure, 

" Instruct me, for thou know'st : Thou from the first 

" Wast present, and with mighty wings out-spread 

" Dove-like satt'st brooding on the vast abyss, 

" And mad'st it pregnant." Book I. 

The primitive writers of the christian church have spo- 
ken pretty much at large upon the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, 

He is declared by Athenagoras to proceed from God and 
return to God, as a beam proceeds from the sun, and is 
returned back again. The Father is in the Son, and the 
Son is in the Father, by the unity and power of the Holy 
Ghost. 

He is said by Tertullian to be the third divine person in 
the Godhead ; the third name of Majesty ; the proclaimer 
. of the monarchy of one God ; but also, if any will receive 
the words of this new prophecy, the interpreter of the dispen- 
sation ; and the guide of all truth which is in the Father, and 
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, according to the Christian 
covenant 1." Again : — The Son I deduce from no other 
source than the substance of the Father ; the Spirit I think 
from no other source than the Father by the Sonf , And 
again : — " The Spirit is the third from the Father and the 
Son§." Ibid. cap. 8. Origen says : — Of the Holy Ghost I 
conceive that such is his sanctity, that he cannot be sancti- 
fied : for no foreign sanctification accrues to him from with- 
out, nor any, of which he was not before possessed, accede 
to him who is always holy, and whose sanctity never had a 
beginning. In like manner we must think of the Father and 

* See Gill on the Trinity, p. 27. where he refers to the places. Both 
the Targum of Jonathan and that of Jerusalem translate this passage, "The 
Spirit of mercies from before the Lord." 

% Adv. Prax. cap. 30. t Ibid, cap, 4. $ Ibid. cap. 8. 



SECT. 1. 



Old Testament Evidence. 



309 



the Son, for the substance of the Trinity alone is of its own 
nature holy, and not by sanctifi cation from without ; for 
truly it is God alone who is always holy*. 

Gregory Nazianzen shews the sense of the church in 
his time : — The Holy Spirit, says he, always was, and is, and 
will be. He had no beginning, nor shall have any end, but 
is always joined with the Father and the Son, and numbered 
with them ; for it was not fit either that the Father should ever 
foe without the Son, or the Son without the Spirit ; for that 
would be the greatest disgrace to the Deity, that any thing 
once wanting, should be added to it : — He was therefore 
always both with himself, and with those with whom he is 
joined, the same, and equal, conceiving, not conceived, 
perfecting, not perfected, filling, not filled, sanctifying, 
not sanctified, deifying, not deified, invisible, eternal, 
immense, unchangeable, without quality, quantity, form, 
tangibility, self-moving, and in eternal motion, independent 
in his will, self-powerful, almighty (yet as all things which 
belong to the only-begotten Son are referred to the First 
Cause, so \p it with whatever belong to the Holy Spirit) life, 
and the giver of life ; light, and the imparter of light : good- 
ness itself, and the fountain of goodness, the upright, lead- 
ing, governing, sending, discerning Spirit, building for 
himself a temple, preparing the way, bestowing his favours, 
and working according to his own will, the spirit of adoption, 
truth, wisdom, piety, counsel, fortitude, fear 5 by whom the 
Father is known, and the Son glorified ; by which two alone 
the Father is known. They are of one rank, one adoration, 
power, perfection, sanctity. In short : All things whatso- 
ever which the Father hath, belong to the Son, excepting 
that the Son is not unbegotten. And all things which the 
Son hath belong to the Spirit, except that he is not begot- 
tenf. 

Basil says, If you are ignorant of many things ; nay, if 
the things you are ignorant of, be ten thousand times more 
than those you know, why should you be ashamed, among so 
many other things, to take in this likewise, that safe method 
of confessing your ignorance as to ihemamier of the existence 
of the Holy Spirit J. 

* Homil. 11. in Numb. p. 214. t Orat, 44. p, 71 J, 712, 

t Orat, contr. Safoell. p, 608, 609, 

x 3 



310 



DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



PART IV. 



In another place he says, The very motions of our own 
mind, whether the soul may be said more properly to create 
or beget them ; who can exactly determine ? What won- 
der then is it, that we are not ashamed to confess our igno- 
rance how the Holy Spirit was produced ? For, that he is 
superior to created beings, the things delivered in Scripture 
concerning him do sufficiently evidence. But the title of 
unoriginated, this no man can be so absurd as to presume to 
give to any other than to the Supreme God : nay, neither 
can we give to the Holy Spirit the title of Son; for there is 
but one Son of God, even the only-begotten. What title 
then are we to give the Spirit ? We are to call him the 
Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth, sent forth 
from God, and bestowed through the Son : not a servant, 
but Holy and Good, the directing Spirit, the quickening 
Spirit, the Spirit of adoption, the Spirit which knoweth all 
the things of God. Neither let any man think, that our 
refusing to call the Spirit a creature, is denying his person- 
ality. For it is the part of a pious mind to be afraid of saying 
any thing concerning the Holy Spirit, which is not revealed 
in Scripture ; and rather be content to wait till the next 
life, for a perfect knowledge and understanding of his na- 
ture*. 

330. The next information we meet with concerning this 
divine Person, is, not till upwards of fifteen hundred years 
afterwards, when the Almighty is introduced declaring a 
little before the flood, — " My Spirit shall not always strive 
with man." Gen. 6. 3. 

The Jews knew the third person in the Trinity by the 
name of JBinah or Intelligence, because they thought it was 
he that gave men that knowledge of what God was pleased 
to reveal to them. In particular, they called him the Sanc- 
tifier, and the Father of faith; nor is any thing more common 
among them, than to give him the name of the Spirit of 
holiness , or the Holy Spiritf. 

331. About seven hundred years after the flood, and 
seventeen hundred before the birth of our Saviour, we find 
that Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had some notion of a divine 
Spirit : — " And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find 



* Coi.t. Eunom, lib. 3. 85, 86 



AHix's Judgment; p, 17?. 



SECT. 1. 



Old Testament Evidence. 



311 



such a one as this is, a man in whom the spirit of God is V 
Gen. 41. 38. 

332.* The author of the book of Job, who is supposed 
by some to have lived about the time of Pharaoh, tells us, 
that — " By his spirit God garnished the heavens/' Job 
26. 13. And, 

333* " The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath 
of the Almighty hath given me life/' Job 33. 4. — These 
two declarations inform us that the Spirit of God was an 
agent in die original creation of the world, in perfect con- 
formity with Gen. 1. 2. where it is said, " The Spirit of 
God moved upon the face of the waters." Comp. MaL 
2. 15. 

334. About the same period the Spirit of God was given 
to Bezaleel, the ingenious artificer. — " And the Lord spake 
unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezaleel 
the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah ; and 
I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and 
in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of 
workmanship," Exodus 31. 1 — 3. The same is repeated in 
chapter 35. 30 — 35. — It appears from these two passages 
that the Spirit of God is the proper author of all ingenious 
arts, and that, if one man excels another, it is because the 
Divine Spirit has been bestowed upon him for these pur- 
poses in a superior degree. Comp. Deut. 8. 18, and Isa. 
28. 26—29. 

What is here attributed to the Spirit of God, is by the 
Heathen attributed to God himself. Pliny goes so far as to 
say, that the attention which the ancients paid to the in- 
vention of arts, and their kindness in delivering them down 
to their posterity, is the gift of God. If any one should 
suppose that these things could be found out by the mere 
force of human genius, he judges of the gifts of God un- 
gratefully *. — Seneca has a sentiment much the same. Say 
not, says he, that the inventions of men are our own. The 
principles of all the arts are planted within us, and God, our 
great Master, secretly excites and quickens our geniuses f. 

335. Between eight and nine hundred years after the 
flood, we have an account of the Spirit of God's descend- 



* Lib. 27, c. 1, 2, 



i De Ben. 4. c. 6. 



S12 



DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



PART IV. 



ing upon the seventy Elders in the camp of Israel :— " And 
Moses went out, and told the people the words of the Lord, 
and gathered the seventy men of the Elders of the people, 
and set them round about the tabernacle. And the Lord 
came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took 
of the Spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the 
seventy elders. And it came to pass that when the Spirit 
rested upon them, they prophesied and did not cease. But 
there remained two of the men in the camp — and the Spirit 
rested upon them, and they prophesied in the camp." Num. 
11.24^26. — The Shechinah, or divine majesty, appeared 
from heaven in a cloud, and as soon as they received the 
Spirit they prophesied. See Patrick on the place, where, he 
explains from Maimonides the first and second degrees of 
prophecy. Compare also Smith's Discourse on Prophecy, 
published by Patrick. 

336*. It was soon after, when the Spirit of God came 
upon Balaam, and enabled him, not only to say many won- 
derful things, in a style more than human, but also to fore- 
tel the future fate of kingdoms " And when Balaam saw 
that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he went not, as at 
other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face 
toward the wilderness. And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and 
he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes y 
and the Spirit of God came upon him *. Numb. 24. 1, 2. 
- — This Spirit, which was bestowed upon him, illuminated 
his mind with the knowledge of a variety of future events, 
but does not appear to have effected any moral change upon 
him. He seems to have lived and died in his sins, not- 
withstanding all his high attainments, and the reputation he 
had acquired. See Mat. J. 22, 23. 

337. When the Israelites were in want of a successor to 
their great leader, the Lord said unto Moses, — " Take thee 
Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and 
lay thine hand upon him." Num. 27. 18. 

How the Heathen came by their information may not be 
easy to ascertain ; but it is certain they abound with senti- 
ments very similar to those we find, in the sacred volume. 
Seneca says, No man is good without the assistance of God. 

* The Targum of Onkelos has this, The Prophetic Spirit from the 
face of the Lord rested upon him. 



SECT. 1. 



Old Testament Evidence, 



313 



Can any one raise himself superior to the chances of human 
life, unless aided by the Deity ? It is he who gives magni- 
ficent and upright counsels. He dwells in every good man. 
If you see a man unalarmed in the midst of dangers, un- 
polluted with lust, happy in adversity, calm in storms, 
looking down as it were from an eminence upon human 
things; don't you hold him in admiration ? Don't you say, 
That virtue is greater than the little body in which it 
dwells ; the divine power hath descended thither*. 

338. A little more than a thousand years before Christ, 
the Spirit of God manifested himself in an extraordinary man- 
ner to Saul and a company of Prophets : — " And the Spirit 
of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy 
with them, and shalt be turned into another man. — And the 
Spirit of God came upon Saul and he prophesied among 
the Prophets.''* - 1 Sam. 10. 6, 10. — This is a transaction 
somewhat similar to that on the day of Pentecost described 
in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. 

339. When Nahash the Ammonite proposed ignomini- 
ous terms of peace to the men of Jabesh-gilead, we are told, 
— " The Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard 
the tidings, and his anger was greatly kindled." 1 Sam. 
11. 6. — The Divine Spirit infused courage, and wisdom, and 
fortitude into his soul ; necessary qualifications in the lea- 
der of an army. 

The sentiment is finely expressed by Cicero in his ora- 
tion for Sylla, where he openly declares, that the design of 
saving his country, when Cataline conspired against it, was 
injected into his mind by the Gods. O ye immortal Gods, 
says he, it was you who then inflamed my mind with a desire 
of saving my country. You called me off from all other 
thoughts, and turned me to the salvation of my country 
alone. You finally brought to my mind the clearest light 
amidst the darkest shades of error and ignorance. For I 
will attribute to you what belongs to you. Nor will I 
ascribe so much to my own genius, as that I should of my- 
self be able to discover what was best to be done in that 
most unmanageable tempest of the republic. 

340. When this same unhappy king persecuted David, 



* Eph 41. 



314 



DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



PART IV. 



" He fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel in Ramah.-— 
And Saul sent messengers to take David : and when they 
saw the company of the Prophets prophesying, and Samuel 
standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was 
upon the messengers of Saul, and they prophesied. And 
when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they 
prophesied likewise. And Saul sent messengers again the 
third time, and they prophesied also. Then went he also to 
Ramah — and the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he 
went on and prophesied until he came to Ramah. And he 
stripped off his clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel 
in like manner : and lay down naked all that day and all 
that night. Wherefore they say, Is Saul also among the 
prophets?" 1 Sam. 19. 18 — 24. — This was an event ex- 
tremely remarkable. The hearts of all men are in the hand 
of God. The day of Pentecost was a repetition of this mira- 
culous transaction. 

341. " The Spirit of the Lord came upon David, and 
departed from Saul" 1 Sam. 16. 13, 14. 

342. * " The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his 
word was in my tongue : the God of Israel said, the Rock 
of Israel spake to me." 2 Sam. 23. 2, 3. — Does it not 
follow from hence, that the Spirit of the Lord is the God 
and Rock of Israel ? 

343. The Psalms of David were all written several hun- 
dreds of years, some upwards of a thousand, before the 
coming of the Saviour. In them there is a mention of the 
Holy Spirit four or five different times : — thus, " Take not 
thy Holy Spirit from me." Psa. 51. 11. 

344. " Uphold me with thy free Spirit." Psa. 51. 12. 

345. * " Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are creat- 
ed." Psa, 104. 30. 

346* "Thy Spirit is good, lead me," Psa. 143. It). 
Dr. Leusden translated this, " Let thy good Spirit lead 
me," which is a form of prayer. Ainsworth renders it, 
" Thy good Spirit shall lead me." 

34/*. And in the 139 psalm the same inspired author 
celebrates the omnipresence of the Holy Spirit : — u O Lord, 
thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my 
down-sitting, and up-rising; thou understandest my thoughts 
afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying- down, 



SECT. 1 . 



Old Testament Evidence. 



315 



and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a 
word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it alto- 
gether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid 
thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for 
me ; it is high ; I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I 
go from thy Spirit f or whither shall I flee from thy pre- 
sence ? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there : if I 
make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the 
wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the 
sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand 
shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me ; 
even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness 
hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day 5 
the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. For thou 
hast possessed my reins : thou hast covered me in my mo- 
ther's womb." Psa. 139. 1— 13.— The Spirit of God and 
the presence of God are the same. Wherever God is, there 
is also his Spirit. 

Clemens Alexandrinus says, there is one Father of the 
universe, one Logos of the universe, and one Holy Spirit, 
which is every where present *. 

348. In the time of David it is said, " The Spirit came 
upon Amifsai." 1 Chron. 12. 18. 

349 * " Then David gave to Solomon — the pattern of 
all that he had by the Spirit." 1 Chron. 28. 12.— This is 
an event extremely remarkable. The whole proceedings of 
David, with regard to building the temple, and all the im- 
provements which he made in the public worship of the 
Almighty, were suggested to him by the Holy Ghost. The 
patterns of all the utensils were figured to his mind by this 
heavenly Suggestor. If therefore God is infinite so is his 
Spirit, If God is every where present, so is his Spirit. If 
God knoweth all things, so doth his Spirit. If God can do 
all things, so too can his Spuit. And, in short ; whatever 
perfections are in God, the same are also in his Spirit. 

350. In the book of Proverbs we find the Logos pro- 
mising to pour out his spirit upon all those, who should be 
obedient to his admonitions : — " Wisdom crieth without — 
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? — Turn 



* Paedag. 1.1. c, 6, 



316 



DEITY OF THE HOLT SPIRIT. PART IV. 



ye at my reproof ; behold, 1 will pour out my spirit unto 
you : I will make known my words unto you." Prov. 1 . 
20—23. 

351. In the time of king Asa it is said, " The spirit 
of God came unto Azariah the son of Oded." 2 Chron. 
15. 1. 

352. Nehemiah saith, " Thou gavest thy good spirit 
to instruct them." Nehem. 9. 20. 

353. 6< Thou testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy 
prophets." Nehem. 9. 30. — The prophets enlarge more 
upon the office of the holy spirit than any of the writers 
who had gone before them. We will produce their several 
declarations in order, concerning that blessed person, with- 
out attempting at any length to illustrate their force and 
meaning, comparing only, as we proceed to the end of the 
sacred canon, spiritual things with spiritual. 

354. " Woe to the rebellious children, that cover with 
a covering, but not of my spirit'" Isa. 30. 1 . 

355. 66 Because the palaces shall be forsaken — until the 
spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness 
be a fruitful field." Isa. 32. 14, 15. 

356. " My mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it 
hath gathered them." Isa. 34. 16. 

357- " Who hath directed the spirit of the Lord, or 
being his counsellor hath taught him?" Isa. 40. 13. If 
the reader will consult the context in this place, he will 
find, that the Spirit is spoken of in the highest style of 
Deity, and as the creator of the universe. " Lebanon is 
not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a 
burnt-offering. All the nations before" this infinite Spirit 
" are as nothing, less than nothing, and vanity." 

358. " Behold my servant — -I have put my spirit upon 
him." Isa. 42. 1. 

359. " I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my bles- 
sing upon thine offspring." Isa. 44. 3. 

360. * " The Lord God and his spirit hath sent me." 
Isa. 48. 16. — The Divine Spirit is here spoken of under a 
personal character, as is frequently the case in the follow- 
ing ages. Whether it was Messiah, or whether it was the 
prophet himself who spake these words, he declares that he 



sect, ii Old Testament Evidence. 317 



was sent upon his errand to the Jews hy the Lord God and 
his Spirit. 

361. "This is my covenant with them, saith the Lord, 
my spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have 
put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor 
out of the mouth of thy seed." Isa. 59. 21. 

36*2. I put together two other remarkable promises of 
the same Prophet, as being one illustrative of the other. 
" And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, 
and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the spirit of 
the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wiadom and under- 
standing, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of 
knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." Isa. 11. 1, 2. — 
The other place is — " The spirit of the Lord is upon me, 
because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings 
unto the meek." Isa. 61. 1. Compare Luke 4. 18, 19. 

363. " They rebelled and vexed his holy spirit" Isa, 
63. 10. The divine Spirit was the leader of the Israelites 
through the wilderness. 

364. If Where is he that put his holy spirit within 
him ?" Isa. 63. 11. 

365. * " The spirit of the Lord caused him to rest." 
Isa. 63. 14. 

By comparing these three last passages with the words 
of Moses, Deut. 32. 12. where it is said, " Jehovah alone 
did lead him, and there was no strange god with him" — we 
shall have a positive proof, that the Holy Spirit is Jehovah. 
And by carrying the comparison to two other passages in the 
psalms, the same conclusion will arise : " They provoked 
the most High in the wilderness, and tempted God in their 
hearts" — and — " The Holy Ghost saith 3 Harden not your 
hearts, as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the 
wilderness, when your fathers tempted me." See Psa. 78. 
17, 18 ; Psa. 95. 7, 8; and Heb. 3. 7, 8. This is evidently 
a divine exhortation to make the Holy Ghost the object of 
our thanksgiving and praise in common with the Father and 
Son. 

366. Jeremiah hath but few discoveries of the Holy 
Spirit ; there is one eminent one, however, which is ex- 
pressly applied to this Divine Agent by Paul in his Epistle 
to the Hebrews : — " Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, 



318 



DEITV OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



PART IV. 



that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, 
and with the house of Judah : not according to the covenant 
that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them 
by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt — but 
this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of 
Israel ; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law 
in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will 
be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall 
teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his 
brother, saying, Know the Lord : for they shall all know me 
from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the 
Lord : for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember 
their sin no more." Jer. 31. 31 — 34. — Compare Heb. 8. 
7 — 13 ; 9. 8 ; and 10. 15 — 17, from the two last of which 
passages it appears, that which is applied to Jehovah by the 
Prophet is applied to the Holy Ghost by the Apostle. Is it 
not then a legitimate conclusion, that the Holy Ghost of 
New Testament is the Jehovah of the Old ? Not, surely, 
to the exclusion of the Father and the Son, but in common 
with the Father and the Son. The three divine persons are 
all of equal power, dominion, and glory, yet sustaining dif- 
ferent offices in the ceconomy of human redemption. 

Ezekiel prophesied about 600 years before the birth of 
Christ. The Holy Spirit is frequently spoken of in his 
writings. I will not say that every one of the following 
instances is directly applicable to that divine person, though, 
I believe, it is generally supposed they are. 

367. * " Whither the spirit was to go, they went." 
Ezek. 1. 12. 

368. * " Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went." 
Ezek. I. 20. 

369. " And the spirit entered into me, when he spoke 
unto me." Ezek. 2. 2. 

370** " Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind 
me a voice." Ezek. 3. 12. 

371* "Then the spirit entered into me, and set me 
upon my feet." Ezek. 3. 24. 

372* "So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away." 
Ezek, 3. 14. 

373.* " The spirit lifted me up between the earth and 
the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jeru- 
salem." Ezek. 8. 3. 



sect. 1. Old Testament Evidence, 319 

374. * " The spirit of the living creature was in them." 
£zek. 10. 17. 

375. * " Moreover, the spirit lifted me up, and brought 
me unto the east gate of the Lord's house, — and said unto 
me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and 
give wicked counsel." Ezek. 11. 1, 2. 

376*.* " And the spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and 
said unto me, Speak, Thus saith the Lord." Ezek. 11.5. 

377 •* " Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought 
me in vision by the spirit of God into Chaldea." Ezek. 
1 1 . 24. — The reader will observe upon these several decla- 
rations of Ezekiel, that in most of them the Divine Spirit is 
Spoken of under a personal character, and as a personal 
agent. This is more fully explained in the New Testament ; 
especially in the Acts of the Apostles. 

378. " Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and 
ye shall be clean : from all your filthiness and from all your 
idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, 
and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away 
the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart 
of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause 
you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments 
and do them." Ezek. 36. 25 — 27. — All the moral changes, 
which are wrought in the minds of men, are effected by the 
influence of the Holy Ghost alone. The Father sustains 
his peculiar office in the redemption of mankind, the Son 
his, and the Spirit his. All three concur in every act of re- 
deeming power and love, but yet each hath a department in 
the business, which is appropriated to him alone. It is re- 
markable, however, that there are places in scripture where 
every office is ascribed to every person. 

379. " Ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have 
opened your graves — and shall put my spirit in you, and 
ye shall live." Ezek. 37. 12, 13. It is not improbable but 
the Spirit in this, and some few other places, may signify 
nothing more than the breath of man. The context must 
determine the signification. It is well known, that the word 
for Spirit, both in the Hebrew and Greek languages, is fre- 
quently used in both senses. 

380. " I have poured out my spirit upon the house of 
Israel 3 saith the Lord God." Ezek. 39. 29. 



320 



DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, 



PART IV. 



381. " Daniel, in whom is the spirit of the holy Gods." 
Dan. 4. 8. 

382. " There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the 
spirit of the holy Gods." Dan. 5. 11. 

383. H I have heard that the spirit of the Gods is in 
thee." Dan. 5. 14. — It appears from these three passages 
that a notion of a divine spirit prevailed among the nations 
of the East. The wiset of the Heathens, indeed, were 
strongly persuaded of the divine agency upon the mind of 
man, not only in the eastern, but also in the western parts of 
the world. 

3S4. "The prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit is 
mad." Hos. 9 7. — The operations of the Holy Spirit were 
matters of jest and ridicule in former times, as well as in the 
present day. 

385. " I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your 
sons and your daughters shall prophesy." Joel. 2. 28. 

386. " In those days will I pour out my spirit.' 3 Chap. 
2.29- — It is sufficiently evident from these two promises, 
that the minds of men were never intended by the Almighty 
to be fully enlightened with the knowledge of the great 
truths of religion, till these latter ages. 

387. " My spirit remaineth among you : fear ye not." 
Hag. 2. 5. — The Holy Spirit, in all his prophetic influences, 
was with-drawn from the people, within a few~ years after 
this declaration, and appeared not again till the days of 
John the Baptist ; a period of about four hundred years. It 
should seem, however, that when this Divine Spirit was 
with-drawn from the Jews, it was more copiously bestowed 
upon the Gentiles. It is certain, at least, that no period 
of the ancient world ever produced so large a number of 
rare geniuses as were raised up among the Greeks and 
Romans during a few of the centuries before the birth of 
Jesus Christ. 

388. "This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, 
saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith 
the Lord of hosts." Zech. 4. 6*. 

389. " They made their hearts as an adamant stone, 
lest they should hear the law, and the words which the 
Lord of hosts hath sent in ^spirit by the former pro- 
phets." 7. 12. 



feJBCT. 1. 



Old Testament Evidence* 



321 



390. " I will pour upon the house of David — the spirit 
of grace and supplication/' 12. 10. — Or a gracious, melt- 
ing, penitential spirit, of which the Holy Ghost should be 
the author. 

391. " Yet had he the residue of the spirit*" MaL 
2. 15. — This is a proof extremely satisfactory, that the 
Spirit of God was concerned in the first creation of the 
world. 

These are the principal, if not all the passages where 
the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Old Testament. We 
will now proceed to the New, and advance through the 
several books in order, making such observations as we go 
along, as may seem necessary to draw the attention of 
the reader to the true meaning of the Spirit in these invalu- 
able writings. 

* It is not the intention of this work to enter into a particular discus- 
sion of the various doctrines concerning the Divine Spirit, but only to 
exhibit to the reader at one view the true scripture principles, leaving him 
to form his own judgment. If he wishes to consider the subject more at 
large, he will receive all the satisfaction he can reasonably expect from 
Dr. Owen's very valuable Discourse concerning the Holy Spirit, which is 
a large and scarce work. Mr. Burder's Abridgement will answer almost 
every purpose of the original, and may be purchased for a few shillings. 
Hurion's Scripture Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in sixteen Sermons is an 
admirable volume. Dr, Ridley's Sermons on the Holy Spirit at Lady 
Moyer's Lectures, is said to be worthy the attention of the theological 
student, but I have not been able to meet with it. To these may be added 
Mr. Hawker's eight Sermons on the Divinity and Operations of the Holy 
Ghost ; Dr, Scott's View of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the third 
volume of his Christian Life ; but above all Bishop Pearson on the Creed, 
where, on the eighth article, he has defended the personality and divinity of 
the Holy Spirit, with his usual learning and ability, against every material 
objection of the Soeinians. 



Y 



322 



DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. PART IV* 



PART FOURTH. 



SECTION II. 



A VIEW OP THE DOCTRINE CONCERNING THE HOLY SPIRIT, 
FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT. . 



The Divinity of the Holy Spirit fully proved by New 
Testament wri ters. — Testimony of Gregory Nazianzen. 
\ — The Spirits attributes, opperations, and preroga- 
tives, continued by Evangelists and Apostles. — Dr. 
Owen's Illustration of the Spirits Personality. — Opi- 
nions of Ambrose — Theophylact — Calvin, and Bishop 
Pearson. — Instances of Prayer to the Spirit. — Rea- 
sons iv hy he is not so frequently addressed by Prayer 
and Praise as the Father and the Son. — The Father 
the Son,, and the Holy Ghost, worshipped as distinct 
Persons. — Lightfoot and Witsius quoted. — The Evi- 
dence of the Sjnrits personality summed up. 



The existence, personality, office, and divinity of the 
Holy Spirit seem to me to be established with accumulated 
evidence from these writings of the Old Testament which we 
have already surveyed : but the strongest and most satisfac- 
tory proofs of these several particulars arise from the writings 
of the new covenant dispensation. To these we will now 
therefore turn our attention, as we have before done on the 
inquiry concerning the personal character of the Son of 
God and Saviour of men. 



sect. 2. New Testament Evidence. 323 

392. " Before they came together she was found with 
child of the Holy Ghost." Mat. 1. 18. — Christ is born, 
says the eloquent Nazianzen, the Spirit is his forerunner ; 
Christ is baptized, the Spirit bears witness ; Christ is tempt- 
ed, the Spirit leads him away ; Christ works miracles, the 
Spirit works with him ; Christ ascends, the Spirit succeeds. 
What is so great and godlike which he cannot do ? What 
name is so divine, that of unbegotten and begotten excepted, 
by which he may not be called ? — He is called the Spirit of 
God, the Spirit of Christ, the mind of Christ, the Spirit of 
the Lord, himself being Lord, the Spirit of adoption, the 
Spirit of truth, the Spirit of liberty, the Spirit of wisdom 
and understanding, the Spirit of council and strength, the 
Spirit of knowledge, of piety, and of the fear of God. And 
as the efficient cause of all these, he fills all things with his 
essence ; contains all things ; the world is filled with his 
presence ; and he is himself greater than that the world can 
contain his power and energy. He is good, righteous, 
princely by nature, not by donation. He sanctifies, is not 
sanctified ; he measures, is not measured ; he gives, but 
does not receive; he fills, but is not filled; he contains, is 
not contained ; he is numbered, glorified, rightfully inherits 
with the Father and the Son. Being the finger of God, as 
a consuming fire, he denounces wrath, to shew that he is of 
the same essence. The same Spirit who was the maker, 
recreates by baptism and the resurrection. The Spirit 
knows and teaches all things ; blows where he will, and as 
much as he will, going before, speaking, sending, and recall- 
ing, He is angred, tempted, reveals, and withdraws light 
and life ; nay he is light and life itself. He builds temples 
and dwells in them as God. — He does all things as God 
himself does. He appeared as cloven tongues of fire. He 
distributes his gifts ; made apostles, prophets, evangelists, 
pastors and teachers. — He is almighty, all-seeing, penetrat- 
ing into all spirits, at the same moment of time, though far 
separated from each other 

393. " That which is conceived in her is of the Holy 
Ghost." Mat. 1.20. 



* Orat. 57. vol; 1. p. 610. 
Y 2 



324 



BEITY OF THE HOLY; SPIRIT. 



PART -IV. 



394. " He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and 
with fire." Mat. 3. 11.— -The Spirit shall purify the souls 
of men, as metal is purified by the aetion of fire. 

3'95.* "He saw the Spirit of God descending like a 
dove, and lighting upon him/' Mat. 3. 16.—- Behold here a 
personal appearance of the Spirit, distinct from the Father, 
and the Son. 

$96. " Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wil- 
derness to be tempted of the devil." Mat. 4. 1. 

397. " I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew 
judgment to the Gentiles." Mat. 12. 18. 

398. " If I cast out devils by the spirit of God." Mat. 
12. 28, Christ wrought all his mighty works by the power 
of the Spirit. The Spirit, therefore, is Omnipotent. 

39&. "The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall 
not be forgiven unto men." Mat. 12. 31. 

400. " Whosoever speaketh against the Holy GJiost it 
shall not be forgiven him." Mat. 12. 32.— The sin against 
the Holy Ghost seems to be irremissable beyond every other, 
because it is rejecting the last and only efficacious means 
appointed of heaven for the salvation of souls. 

401. " How then dotti David in spirit call him Lord ?" 
Mat. 22. 43. This is agreeable to the sentiment of Paul — 
" No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy 
Ghost.* 1 Cor. 12.3. 

402. " Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing 
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost" Mat. 28. 19. The whole Christian world 
is here commanded, by the Redeemer himself, to be dedi*- 
cated to trie service of the Holy Ghost, in common with the 
Father and the Son. 

403. "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost' 9 
Mark 1. 8. 

404. " He saw the heavens opened, and the spirit like 
a dove descending upon him." Mark I. 10. 

405. " The spirit driveth him into the wilderness." 
Mark. 1. 12. 

406. " David said by the Holy Ghost, The- Lord said to 
my Lord." Mark 12. 36. — -David was under the influence of 
the divine Spirit, not only wbea he settled the temple wor- 



SECT. 2. 



New Testament Evidence. 



325 



ship, but also when he composed his sacred hymns. Comp, 
2 Sam. 23. 2, 3; and 1 Chron. 28, 12. 

407. " It is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost J* 
Mark 13. IL 

408. " He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even 
from his mother's womb." Luke I. 15. 

409. " The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the 
power of the Highest shall over shadow thee : therefore 
also that holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be 
called the Son of God." Luke 1. 35. 

410. " Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost" Luke 

1. 41. 

411. " His father Zacharias was filled with the Holy 
Ghost 9 and prophesied." Luke 1. 67. 

412. " And the Holy Ghost was upon him." Luke 

2. 25. 

4 13. a It was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, 
that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's 
Christ." Luke 2. 26. 

414. " He came by the spirit into the temple." Luke 
2. 27. 

415. "And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape 
like a dove upon him." Luke 3. 22. 

416. "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and 
with fire." Luke 3. 16. 

4*7* " Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from 
Jordan, and was led by the s])irit into the wilderness." 
Luke 4, 1. 

41 8. " Jesus returned in the power of the spirit into 
Galilee." Luke 4. 14. 

419. " The spirit of the Lord is upon me." Luke 
4. 18. 

420. " How much more shall your heavenly Father 
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him. Luke .11. 13. 

421. H Unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy 
Ghost it shall not be forgiven. Luke 12. 10. 

422. " The Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same 
hour what ye ought to say." Luke 12. 12. — Could an un- 
intelligent agent be capable of teaching man wisdom ? 

423. " Behold I send the Promise of my Father upon 

• y 3 



326 



DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



PART IV. 



you : but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be en- 
dued with power from on high." Luke 24. 49. 

424. * " John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit 
descended from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him." 
John 1. 32. 

425. i( Upon whom thou shall see the spirit descending 
and remaining on him, the same is he who baptizeth with 
the Holy Ghost" John 1 . 33. — Here is a distinct personal 
agency. 

426. " Except a man be born of water and of the 
spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." John 
3. 5. 

427. " That which is born of the spirit is spirit*" John 
3. 6. — To be born of the Spirit, and to be born of God, is 
the same thing, therefore the Spirit is God. Compare John 
1. 13. 

428. " So is every one that is born of the spirit." 
John 3. 8. 

429. " God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him." 
John 3. 34. 

430. " This spake he of the spirit, which they that 
believe on him should receive 5 for the Holy Ghost was not 
yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified." John 
7. 39. 

431. * "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you 
another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever $ 
even the spirit of truth ; whom the world cannot receive, 
because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him ; for he 
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." John 14. 16, 17. 

432. * " The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom 
the Father will send in my name ; he shall teach you all 
things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever 
I have said unto you." John 14, 26. 

433. * " When the Comforter is come, whom I will send 
unto you from the Father, even the spirit of truth Which 
proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." John 
15. 26. 

434. * " I tell you the truth : It is expedient for you that 
I go away; for if I go not away, the comforter will not 
come unto you : but if I depart I will send him unto you : 
and when he is come, he shall reprove the world of 



sect. 2. Neiv Testament Evidence. 



327 



sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." John 16* 
7, 8. 

435.* " When he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will 
guide you into all truth : for he shall not speak of himself; 
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak : and he 
will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me : for he 
shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things 
that the Father hath are mine : therefore said I, that he 
shall take of mine, and shew it unto you." John 16. 13—15. 

Language is incapable of expressing the personal exis- 
tence of the Holy Spirit in more forcible terms than these. 
If he is not a distinct, personal and intelligent agent, ex- 
pressions have no meaning. 

436*. ci He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Re- 
ceive ye the Holy Ghost." John 20. 22. — This is an 
emblematical action, such as was common among the 
Jews. 

The evidence to the existence, personal properties, in- 
telligence, and deity of the Holy Spirit, are numerous and 
strong from the four gospels. The Acts of the Apostles 
abound still more with the same kind of information. 

437. " After that he, through the Holy Ghost, had 
given commandment unto the Apostle." Acts ] . 2. 

438 " Wait for the promise of the Father." Acts 
1. 4. 

439. " Baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days 
hence." Acts 1. 5. 

440. " Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost 
is come upon you." Acts 1.8. 

441. « Which the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of David 
spake before." Acts 1. 16. 

442. " And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, 
and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave 
them utterance." Acts 2. 4. 

443. " It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, 
I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh." Acts 2. 27. 

444. " I will pour out in those days of my spirit'* 
Acts 2. 18. 

445. "Being by the right hand of God exalted, and 
having received of the Father the promise of the Holy 
Ghost, he hath shed forth this." Acts 2. 33. 



328 



DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



PART IV. 



446. " Repent and be baptized every one of you in the 
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall 
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost : for the promise is to 
you, and to your children." Acts 2. 38,39. 

447. " Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost* said." Acts 
4, 8. 

448. " And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, 
and they spake the word of God with boldness." Acts 
4.31. 

449* " Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to 
the Holy Ghost ? Tliou hast not lied unto men, but unto 
God." Acts 5. 3, 4. — Lying to the Holy Ghost, is lying 
unto God ; therefore the Holy Ghost is God. 

450. " To tempt the Spirit of the Lord." Acts 5. 9. 

451. ¥ We are witnesses Of these things, and so is also 
the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey 
him." Act 5. 32. 

452. " Men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost, 
and wisdom." Acts 6. 3. 

453. "Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost " 
Acts 6. 5. 

454. " Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost" Acts 
7.51. 

455. " He being full of the Holy Ghost looked up 
stedfastly into heaven." Acts 7- 55. 

456. 66 Prayed for them that they might receive the 
Holy Ghost," Acts 8. 15. 

45,7- f Then laid they their hands on them, and they 
received the Holy Ghost" Acts 8. 17. 

458. ff When Simon saw, that through laying on 
the apostles' hands, the Holy Ghost was given, he offered 
them money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whom- 
soever I lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost" 
Acts 8. 18, 19. 

459. * " Then the spirit said unto Philip, Go near and 
join thyself to this chariot." Acts 8. 29,— Here the Spirit 
is introduced as a personal, and intelligent agent. 

Cyprian has summed up the several operations Of the 
Holy Spirit in a manner worthy of our attention All, says 
he, fe by the guidance of the Holy Spirit that those who 
wander aye directed^ the wicked are converted, the weak 



SECT. 2. 



Netv Testament Evidence. 



are strengthened. He, the right Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the 
princely Spirit, rules, perfects, dwells in our souls, which he 
perfects, and our hearts which he possesses. Nor does he 
suffer those to err, or be corrupted, or overcome whom he 
hath taught, whom he hath possessed, and whom he hath 
girded with the sword of most powerful virtue. — He washes 
away sins ; he justifies the ungodly, and calls the dead to 
life : he heals discord, and draws and binds with the bond 
of love ; he raises us up to heaven ; and, freeing us from 
the vanities of this world, he makes us heirs of a kingdom 
above ; of which this is the chief happiness, that this body 
by spiritual influences converses with angels ; nor shall 
there be any more the appetites of flesh and blood ; but 
there shall be a full sufficiency of all things ; God shall be 
known, and ihe Holy Spirit shall dwell within us*. 

460 * " The spirit of the Lord caught away Philip." 
Acts 8. 39.— We see again, that as the Spirit had before 
spoken to Philip, so here he bore him miraculously away ; 
a sufficient proof of his personal agency. 

461. "Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared 
unto thee in the way as thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou 
mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy 
Ghost." Acts 9. 17. 

462. " Then had the churches rest— and walking in the 
fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were 
multiplied." Acts 9. 31. 

463. * " While Peter thought on the vision, the spirit 
said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee." Acts 10. 19. 

464. * " Gowiththem, doubting nothing; for I have sent 
them." Acts. 10. 20.— In both these cases the Spirit is intro- 
duced as speaking to Peter in the manner of a personal agent. 

465. "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy 
Ghost and with power," Acts 10. 38. 

466. " The Holy Ghost fell on all them who heard the 
word." Acts 10. 44 

467- "On the Gentiles also was poured Out the gift Of 
the Holy Ghost" Acts 10. 45. 

468. " Can any man forbid Water, that these should 
not be baptized, who have received the Holy Gkost y as well 
as we V Acts 10. 47. 

* De Spirit, Sancto, p, 486, 488, 



330 



DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



PART IV, 



469. " And the spirit bade me go with them, nothing 
doubting." Acts 11. 12. — Here again the Spirit speaks, and 
in such a manner as implies that he is the governor of the 
church. 

470. "As I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on 
them, as on us at the beginning." Acts 11. 15. 

471. " John indeed baptized with water ; but ye shall 
be baptized with the Holy Ghost." Acts 11. 16*. 

472. " God gave them the like gift (of the Holy 
Ghost.)" Acts 11. 17. 

473. ff. Barnabas was a good man, and full of the Holy 
Ghost and of faith." Acts 11. 24. 

474. " Agabus signified by the spirit great dearth." 
Acts 11.21. 

475. * " As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the 
Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the 
work where unto I have called them." Acts 13. 2. — Hence 
it appears, the Spirit acts as a sovereign in the church, and 
the context shews the apostles obeyed his orders * 

476. * " They, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, de- 
parted into Seleucia." Acts 13. 4. — The whole of the 
gospel dispensation, and government of the church, is in the 
hands of the Spirit. 

477. " Then Saul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his 
eyes on him." Acts 13. 9. 

478. " The disciples were filled with joy, and with the 
Holy Ghost." Acts 13. 52. 

479. " God, who knoweth the hearts, bare them wit- 
ness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us." 
Acts 15. 8. 

480. " It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us, to 
lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things. ,, 
Acts 15. 28. — Behold here again the personal and intellec- 
tual agency of the Spirit. 

481. * u When they had gone through Phrygia, and 
were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in 
Asia, after they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into 
Bithynia ; but the spirit suffered them not." Acts 16, 6> 
7. — The same observation holds good here. The Holy 
Spirit acts as a sovereign. 



SECT. 2. 



Neio Testament Evidence. 



331 



482. « For in him we live, and move, and have our 
being ; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we 
are also his offspring." Acts 17. 28. — This passage is much 
in the spirit of the hundred and thirty-ninth psalm. And as 
that psalm is applied to the Spirit of God which filleth all 
things, so may this verse be applied to the same divine per- 
son. The poet to which the apostle refers was Aratus, who 
lived about the year 280 before Christ ; the poem quoted 
begins in the manner following : — 

" From Jove begin : let not us men 
Permit great Jove to be unsung. 
For every town, and every crowd 
Of living men, with Jove are fill'd. 
With him are fill'd both sea and land. 
Of Jove we're every where pessess'd. 
For we, even we his offspring are, 
Kindly he points out good to all*." 

483. "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye 
believed > And they say unto him, We have not so much 
as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost" Acts 19. 2. 
It had never come to our knowledge that the Holy Spirit 
had been given in any extraordinary manner. 

484. " When Paul had laid his hands on them, the 
Holy Ghost came on them/' Acts 19. 6. 

485. * " Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every 
city, saying, that bonds and afflictions abide me." Acts 
20. 23. 

486. * " Take heed — to all the flock over the which 
the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers/' Acts 20. 28. 

487. "They said to Paul through the spirit, that he 
should not go up to Jerusalemf." Acts 21.4. 

* Compare with this the hymns of Cleanthes and Eupolis to the Cre- 
ator. 

t The doctrine of the Holy Spirit's influence upon the human mind is 
treated with great and general neglect in the present day. This I conceive to 
be the chief cause of that lukewarraness and irreligion which prevail in so fa- 
tal a degree among all ranks of men. A most able and animated defence of 
these divine influences has lately been laid before the public by the Rev. 
Dr. Knox, in his Christian Philosophy ; a work which has a strong ten- 
dency to revive the dying cause of religion, and to distinguish between, 
what is spurious and what is genuine among the professors of Christianity. 
In my judgment, however, the learned doctor makes too little account of 



23£ DEITY Of THE HOLY S PI HIT. PART IV. 

48$.* " He took up Paul's girdle, and bound his own 
hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So 
shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this 
girdle." Acts 21. 11. 

489. * " Well spake the Holy Ghost, by Isaiah the 
prophet, unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people, and 
say," &c. — "and I should heal them." Acts 28. 25-— 27. 
See Jones on the Trinity upon this passage, chap. 2. sect. 22. 
where he proves by a comparison of it with the sixth chap- 
ter of Isaiah, that the Holy Ghost is the Lord of hosts. 

The acts of the apostles, we have seen, abounds largely 
with declarations concerning the Holy Spirit. The evidence 
from thence will he found perfectly decisive for his exis- 
tence, personality, intelligence, and divinity. The epistles 
come next under consideration. 

490. " Declared to be the Son of God with power, 
according to the spirit of holiness" Rom. 1. 4. — The 
Spirit of holiness probably means in this place the Divine 
Nature of Jesus. The expression is ambiguous. 

491. " The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts 
by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Rom. 5. 5. 

492. "Who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit" 
Rom. 8. 1. 

493. "The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath 
made me free." Rom. 8. 2. 

494. "Who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit J* 
Rom. 8, 4. 

495. " They that are after the spirit do mind the things 
of the spirit" Rom 8. 5. 

496. " Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be 
that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have 
not the spirit of Christ he is none of his." Rom. 8. 9.— The 
Holy Ghost is equally the Spirit of God, and of Christ. 

497. "The spirit is life because of righteousness." 
Rom. 8. 10. 

498. * " If the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from 
the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the 
dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that 



external evidence. Ifhe could see it right to rectify this part in the next 
edition, I make no doubt the volumes would become very generally accep- 
table to men of inquiring minds. 



SECT. 2. 



Neiv Testament Evidence. 



333 



dwelleth in you." Rom. 8. 1 1 . — The Spirit of God was the 
agent in raising up the body of Jesus Christ from the grave, 
and will be the same in the resurrection of our bodies. It is 
remarkable, however, that all the three persons are spoken 
of as being concerned both in the resurrection of Jesus and 
in our resurrection. 

499. " If ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of 
the body, ye shall live." Horn. 8. 13, 

500. " As many as are led by the spirit of God they are 
the sons of God/' Rom. 8. 14. " 

5Q1. f£ Ye have received the spirit of adoption." Rom. 
3. 15. 

502 * "The spzYiY itself beareth witness with our spirit ." 
Rom. 8. 16. 

503. " Who have the first-fruits of the spirit" Rom. 
8, 23. 

504. " The spirit helpeth our infirmities." Rom. 8. 26. 

505. * "The spirit itself maketh intercession lor us with 
groanings which cannot be uttered." Rom. 8. 26. 

506. " He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the 
mind of the spirit." Rom. 8. 27. 

507. * " My conscience bearing me witness in the Holy 
Ghost." Rom. 9. 1.— Here is an appeal to the Holy Ghost, 
which appeal was never to be made to any other being but 
God by the law. Deut. 6. 13, 14, The Holy Ghost therefore 
is Gad. 

508. "The kingdom of God is— joy in the Holy Ghost." 
Rom. 14. 17. 

509. " Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and 
peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope through the 
power of the Holy Ghost/' Rom. 15. 13. 

510. " That the offering up of the Gentiles might be 
acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost." Rom. 
15. 16. 

511. (t Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power 
of the Spirit of God" Rom. 15. 19.— All the miracles; 
wrought by the apostles were accomplished by the power of 
the Spirit. Indeed, there is that intercommunity, if I m&f 
so speak, between the Father, Son, and Spirit, that they ail 
concur in every act of creation, providence, and grace. 



334 



DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



PART IV* 



512. " Ibeseech yon — for the love of the spirit" Rom. 
15. 30. 

513. "My preaching was in demonstration of the spirit, 
and of power ; that your faith should not stand in the wisdom 
of men, but in the power of God." 1 Cor. 2. 4, 5. — Hence it 
appears the Spirit is God. 

514. * " The things which God hath prepared for them 
that love him, God hath revealed unto us by his spirit : for 
the spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." 
1 Cor. 2. 9, 10. 

515. * " The things of God knoweth no man, but the 
spirit of God." 1 Cor. 2. 11. — If the Holy Ghost is capable 
of searching the counsels of the Divine mind, and of knowing 
all the secrets of God as fully as the spirit of a man knows 
all the secrets of his own bosom, he must be commensurate 
with that infinite being, and consequently must be infinite 
himself. 

516. "We have received the spirit which is of God, 
that we might know the things which are freely given to us 
of God." 1 Cor. 2. 12. 

517. "In words which the Holy Ghost teacheth 1 Cor. 
2.13. 

518. " The natural man receiveth not the things of the 
spirit of God." 1 Cor. 2. 14. 

519. * |" Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, 
and that the spirit of God dweileth in you ? If any man defile 
the temple of God him shall God destroy ; for the temple 
of God is holy, which temple ye are." 1 Cor. 3. 16, 17. 
The Holy Ghost is called God three times in these two 
verses. 

Ambrose says, when speaking of this passage, How impu- 
dently do you deny the deity of the Holy Spirit, when you 
read, that the Spirit hath a temple ; for it is written, Ye are 
the temple of God, and the Holy Spirit dwells in you. 
God therefore hath a temple : a creature hath no real tem- 
ple : but the Spirit hath a temple ; for he dweileth in you*." 
Theophylact upon it says, If we be the temple of God, be- 
cause jhe Spirit of God dwells in us, then the Spirit is God. 
In this place, says Calvin, we have a clear testimony, assert- 

* DeSpiritu Sancto, lib. 3. c. 13. 



sect. 2. Neiv Testament Evidence. v 335 

ing the divinity of the Holy Spirit: for if he was a creature, 
or a gift only, he would not have made them the temple of 
God, by dwelling in them. — Bishop Pearson says, we know 
no other reason why we are the temple of God, when the 
Spirit of God dwells in us, but only because the Spirit of 
God is God*. — The same learned man says again : — that 
person whose inhabitation makes a temple, is God : for if 
the notion of a temple be nothing else but to be the house 
of God, and if to be the house of any creature is not to be a 
temple, as it is not, then no inhabitation of any created per- 
son can make a temple ; but the inhabitation of the Holy 
Ghost makes a temple : — therefore the Holy Ghost is God f. 

520. " But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye 
are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit 
of our God." 1 Cor. 6. 11. 

521. " Know ye not that your body is the temple of the 
Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and that 
ye are not your own ? For ye are bought with a price : there- 
fore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are 
God's." 1 Cor. 6. 19, 20. Compare this with 2 Cor. 6. 16'. 
" Ye are the temple of the living God 5 as God hath said, 
I will dwell in them, and walk in them ; and I will be 
their God, and they shall be my people." And with Levit. 
26. 11. 12. " I will set my tabernacle amongst you; and 
my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you 
and will be your God, and ye shall be my people." To be 
the temple of the Holy Ghost, and the temple of the living 
God, is one and the same thing; the Holy Ghost therefore 
is the living God. 

The Jewish temple, to which there seems here to be 
an allusion, was a place of the most solemn religious wor- 
ship of that God to which the temple was built and dedi* 
cated. Believers being the temple of the Holy Ghost, are 
bound to worship him, whose temple they are %. 

522. " I think also that I have the spirit of God." 1 Cor, 
7. 40. 

523. " No man speaking of the spirit of God calleth 
Jesus accursed : and no man says that Jesus is the Lord, 
but by the Holy Ghost." lCor. 12. 3. 

* On the Creed, p. 320, t On the Creed p. 319. * Hurripn, p. 142. 



33(5 



DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



PART IV, 



524. " There are diversities of gifts, but the sam6 
spirit" 1 Cor. 12. 4. 

525. * " The manifestation of the spirit is given to every 
man to profit withal: for to one is given by the Spirit the 
word of wisdom : to another, the word of knowledge by the 
same spirit : to another, faith by the same spirit : to ano- 
ther, the gifts of healing by the same spirit. But all these 
worketh that one and the self-same spirit, dividing to every 
man severally as he will." 1 Cor. 12. 7, 8, 9, 11. 

Chrysostom observes on these words, As he ivill, it is 
said, not as he is commanded ; dividing, not as divided, he 
being the author, not subject to authority. Do you not see 
the perfect power? for they who have the same nature, no 
doubt, have the same authority j and they that have the 
same dignity, have one and the same virtue and power.— 
Irenseus in his short view of a Christian's belief says : — In one 
God, the Supreme Governor over all, of whom are all 
things 5 — and in the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord, by 
whom are are all things ; — and in the Spirit of God, which 
hath in every generation manifested unto men the dispensa- 
tions both of the Father and the Son, according to the will 
of the Father *. 

The Spirit is not without the Word, says Athanasius, 
but being in the Word, it is through him in God : so that 
all gifts are given by the three persons. For in the distri- 
bution of gifts, as the Apostle writeth to the Corinthians, it 
is the same Spirit, it is the same Lord, and it is the same 
God, which worketh all in all. For the Father himself, 
through the Word, in the Spirit, worketh and giveth all 
things f . 

526. " By one spirit we are all baptized into one body 
—and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." 1 Cor. 
12. 13. 

527. " In the spirit he speaketh mysteries." 1 Cor* 
14. 2. 

528. f Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest 
of the spirit in our hearts." 2 Cor. I. 22. 

529. " Ye are the epistle of Christ, written, not with 
ink, but with the spirit of the living God." 2 Cor. 3. 3. 
Comp. Heb. 8. 10. 

* Lib. 4, cap. 62» t Ep. 1, ad Serap. deSpiritu Sancto. 



SECT. 2. 



New Testament Evidence, 



337 



530. " How shall not the ministration of the spirit be 
rather glorious ?" 2 Cor. 3. 8. 

531. "Now the Lord is that spirit : and where the 
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty./' 2 Cor. 3. 17- 

532. " Changed from glory to glory, even as by the 
spirit of the Lord/' 2 Cor. 3. 18. or by the Lord the 
Spirit, as it is in the original. 

533. " God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of 
the spirit:' 2 Cor. 5. 5. 

534. " By the Holy Ghost." 2 Cor. 6. 6. 

535. u Ye are the temple of the living God" 2vCor. 
6'. 16*. or of the Holy Ghost. 1 Cor. 6. 19. 

536. " If ye receive another spirit, which ye have not 
received." 1 Cor. 11.4. 

537. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love 
of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you 
all. Amen." 1 Cor. 13, 14. 

This is a prayer to the three persons of the Divine Nature 
for their respective blessings in the covenant of redemption. 
And as the communications of the Holy Spirit are essen- 
tially necessary to our holiness and happiness, those commu- 
nications are supplicated for the believers of Corinth by the 
affectionate apostle. 

538. " Received ye the spirit by the works of the law, 
or by the hearing of faith }" Gal. 3. 2. 

539. Ci Are ye so foolish, having begun in the spirit, 
are ye now made perfect by the flesh ?" Gal. 3. 2. 

540. " He therefore that ministereth to you the spirit." 
Gal. 3. 5. 

541. " That we might receive the promise of the spirit 
through faith." Gal. 3. 14. 

542. " Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the 
spirit of his Son into your hearts." Gal. 4. 6. 

543. " Persecuted him that was born after the spirit" 
Gal. 4. 9. 

544. " We through the spirit wait for the hope of righ- 
teousness by faith." Gal. 5. 5. 

545. " Walk in the spirit " Gal. 5. 16. 

546. " The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit 

against the flesh." Gal. 5. 17. 

z 



338 



DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT* 



PART IV. 



547. " If ye be led by the spirit, ye are not under the 
law/' Gal. 5. 1.8. 

548. " The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace." Gal. 
5. 22.. 

549. " If we live in the spirit 9 let us also walk in the 
spirit." Gal. 5. 25. 

550. "He that soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit 
reap life everlasting." Gal. 6. 8. 

551. "In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were 
sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." Eph. 1. 13. 

552. " That the Father of glory may give you the spirit 
of wisdom and understanding." Eph. 1. 17. 

553. * " Through him we both have access by one spirit 
unto the Father." Eph. 2. J8. 

554. * " An habitation of God through the spirit" 
Eph. 2. 18. 

555. " As it is now revealed unto the holy Apostles and 
Prophets by the spirit" Eph. 3. 5. 

556. " Strengthened with might by his spirit in the 
inner man." Eph. 3. 16. 

557. " Keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of 
peace." Eph. 4. 3. 

558. " There is one body, and one Spirit." Eph. 4.4. ' 

559. " Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye 
are sealed." Eph. 4. 30. 

560. " The fruit of the spirit is in all goodness, righ- 
teousness, and truth." Eph. 5. 9. 

561. " Be filled with the spirit." Eph. 5. 18. 

562. « Take the sword of the spirit" Eph. 6. 17. 

563. " Praying — with all supplication in the spirit.'* 
Eph. 6. 18. 

564. " The supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ." Phil. 
1. 19. 

565. " If any fellowship of the spirit" Phil. 2. 1. 

566. * « Which worship God in the spirit" Phil. 3. 3. 
This should be translated God the Spirit. — See Hurrion, 
p. 143, 144. Ambrose understands it in the same manner. 
And indeed the literal rendering is unquestionably God the 
Spirit. 

56*7. " Our gospel came—in power, and in the Holy 
Ghost." 1 Thes. 1. 5. 



SECT. 2. 



New Testament Evidence, 



339 



568. " With joy of the Holy Ghost." Thes. 1. 6*. 

569. " God, who hath also given unto us his Holy 
Spirit." 1 Thes. 4. 8. 

570. " Quench not the spirit." 1 Thes. 5. 19. 

571. " God hath from the beginning chosen you to sal- 
vation through sanctiflcation of the spirit, and belief of the 
truth." 2 Thes. 2. 13. 

57*2. " The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, 
and into the patient waiting for Christ." 2 Thes. 3. 5.— 
Here the Lord prayed to, is the Spirit, in express distinc- 
tion from God the Father, and from Jesus Christ; for the 
Apostle prays to this Lord to direct their hearts into the 
love of God; this is the work of the Spirit; and also to 
cause them patiently to wait for Christ ; and this also is the 
work of the Spirit. Tbe Spirit, therefore, is that Lord to 
whom he prayed *. 

The reason why the Holy Spirit is not so fully and fre- 
quently addressed by prayer and praise, as the Father and 
Son, is well expressed by Hurrion ; I will therefore give it 
in his own words : — As Christ came not, says this excellent 
man, to glorify himself, but the Father, so the Spirit came 
not to glorify himself, but Christ; as our Saviour teaches 
us in these words ; — He shall not speak of himself; hut 
whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak : he shall 
glorify me ; for he shall take of mine, and shew it to 
you. John 1 6. 13, 14. When Christ came in the flesh, he 
veiled his own glory, and proclaimed the Father's : so the 
Holy Spirit, as it were, conceals his own glory, to promote 
the glory of Christ, in whose name he both speaks and acts. 
But yet as Christ sometimes turned aside the veil, and mani- 
fested his own glory, so the Holy Spirit sometimes, in the 
scriptures, discovers his own glory, though not so frequently, 
so clearly, and so fully, as that of the Son. — The design of 
his mission was to glorify the Son, not himself ; and as 
Christ was no less God, and no less worthy of glory, when 
he humbled himself, than when he was exalted; so the 
Holy Ghost is no less worthy of glory, when he comes to 
reveal the glory of Christ, than if he had come more fully to 
display his own f . 



* See Hurrion, p. 51, 

z 2 



f Page 182. 



340 



DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



PART IV. 



573.* " The Lord make you to encrease and abound in 
love one towards another, to the end he may establish your 
hearts unblameable in holiness before God even our Father, 
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Thes. 3. 12, 
13. — Here again the Lord spoken of is distinguished from 
the Father and the Son : for he is to establish the heart 
before the Father, and at the coming of Christ. He there- 
fore is a third person whose work it is to sanctify and estab- 
lish the saints. 

Polycarp concluded his last prayer at the stake in these 
words: I praise thee for all things; I bless thee, I glorify 
thee with the eternal and heavenly Jesus Christ, thy beloved 
Son, with whom, to thee, and the Holy Spirit, be glory both 
now, and unto future ages. — Justin Martyr also declares in 
his first Apology for the Christi ins, in vindication of them 
from the charge of atheism, that they worshipped and adored 
the Father, the Son, and the prophetic Spirit. — St. Cyprian : 
— O thou Divine Spirit, be thou present, and from heaven 
shed down thy consolation on those that wait for thee. 
Sanctify the temple of our body, and consecrate it a habita- 
tion for thyself. Make those souls joyful with thy presence, 
who desire thee. Render the house worthy of thee, the in- 
habitant. Adorn thy secret recess, and surround the place 
of thy rest with a variety of virtues. Strow the pavement 
with ornaments ; let thy mansion shine with the brightness 
of carbuncles and precious stones ; and let the odours of all 
thy gift send from within a sweet perfume. Let thy frag- 
rent balsam abundantly perfume thy residence, and expel 
whatever is noisome, and the spring of corruption. Do 
thou make this our joy, stable and lasting : and this renova- 
tion of thy creature do thou continue eternally in unfading 
beauty. — St. Chrysostom says, Adore the Holy Spirit, whom 
you have received. Say often that you are well rewarded; 
Christ has taken thy flesh, and given thee his Spirit. This 
the saving law suggests, the prophets speak, the apostles in 
their divine oracles declare, the martyrs confess, the godly 
believe, the church consents to; ignorance opposes, the 
faithful are persuaded of by many arguments; and thus 
Christ is glorified; for his is the glory, and honour, and 



f De Spiritu Sanct. p. 484, 485, 



SECT. 2. 



Neiv Testament Evidence, 



341 



adoration, together with the Father, and the most holy and 
quickening Spirit, now, and ever, and for ages of ages. 
Amen *. 

574. * "Now God himself, and our Father, and our 
Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you." 2 Thes. 3. 11, 
Here the Holy Ghost is named first, and is expressly called 
God himself \r 

575. " God — was justified in the spirit." 1 Tim. 3. 16. 

576. " Now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the 
latter times some shall depart from the faith." 1 Tim. 4. 1. 

577. " In charity, inspirit, in faith." 1 Tim. 4. 12, 

578. " The spirit — of power, and of love/' 2 Tim. 1. 7- 

579. " That good thing which was committed unto thee, 
keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us." 2 Tim. 
1. 14. 

580. " He saved us by the washing of regeneration, and 
renewing of the Holy Ghost ; which he shed on us abun- 
dantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour." Titus 3. 5, 6. 

581. " God bearing them witness — with gifts of the 
Holy Ghost." Heb. 2. 4. 

582. " Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, To clay if 
ye will hear his voice." Heb. 3. 7. — What the Apostle 
applies here to the Holy Ghost, is applied by the Psalmist 
to Jehovah our Maker. The Divine Spirit, in common with 
the Father and the Son, is therefore the Lord our Maker. 
Compare Exod. 17. 2. with this declaration of the Apostle, 
and the whole ninety-fifth psalm. 

583. " Were made partakers of the Holy Ghost." Heb. 
6. 4. 

584. " The Holy Ghost this signifying." Heb, 9. 8.— 
It appears from the context on this passage, that Paul con- 
sidered the Holy Spirit as the author of the whole Mosaic 
oeconomy. Comp. Heb. 10. 15, and 1 Chron. 28. 12. 

585. " Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered 
himself without spot to God." Heb. 9. 14. — Origen says, 
I believe that there is one God, the creator and maker of all 
things ' % and that the Word, which came forth from him, is 

# Horn, de Spirit. Sanct. vol. 6. 191. Ed. Franc, 
t That this is the proper meaning of the passage, see Hawker's Ser- 
Eoons on th« Spirit, p. 267, 

23 



342 



DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



PART. IVe 



God also,, of one substance with the Father, and eternally 
existent; and that in these latter times he took manhood of 
Mary. I believe also in the Holy Ghost, who is eternally 
existent. Cont. Marcion. sect. 1. 

586. f The Holy Ghost also is a witness to us." Heh, 
10, 15. 

587. " Hath done despite to the spirit of grace." Heb, 
10. 29. 

588. * " Elect — through sanctification of the spirit." 
1 Pet. 1. 2. 

589. " Searching what, or what manner of time the 
spirit of Christ which was in them did signify." 1 Pet, 
1. 11. 

590. " With the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, 
which things the angels desire to look into." 1 Pet. 1. 12. 

What was there so extraordinary for the angels to be 
so eager to dive into, if the Holy Spirit is nothing more 
than the influence of God upon the mind ? But if that 
Holy Being is what we suppose him to be, there is just 
ground for wonder. 

591. "Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth 
through the spirit 1 Pet. 1. 22. 

592. " Put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the 
spirit:' 1 John 3. 18. 

593. " The spirit of glory and of God resteth upon 
you." 1 John 4. 14. — The glorious Spirit of God. 

594. " Holy men of God spake as they were moved by 
the Holy Ghost." 2 Pet, 1. 21.— Compare this with 2 Tim. 
3. 16. " All scripture is given by inspiration of God." And 
Heb. 1.1. " God who at sundry times, and in divers man- 
ners spake unto the fathers by the prophets." From hence 
will it not appear, that the Holy Ghost is the God who 
spake ? 

595. " Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye 
know all things." 1 John 2. 20. 

596. " The anointing which ye have received of him 
abideth in you." 1 John 2. 27. 

597. " Hereby we know that he abideth in us by the 
spirit which he hath given us." 1 John 3. 24. 

598. "^Hereby know ye the spirit of God." 1 John 4. 2. 

599. " He hath given us of his spirit" 1 John 4. 13. 



SECT. 2. 



New Testament Evidence. 



348 



600. " It is the spirit that beareth witness, because the 
Spirit is truth." 1 John 5. 6*. 

601. " There are three that bear record in heaven ; the 
Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost : and these three^ 
are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth ; 
tha spirit and the water, and the blood : and these three 
agree in one." 1 John 5. 7, 8. 

It is pretty generally understood that the former part of 
this passage is thought by some to be an interpolation. But 
let it be determined as it may, with respect to the former 
part of the passage, the latter part is received as unques- 
tionable by all : and this, as well as the other, is thought by 
some to hold out the doctrine of the three persons in the 
Divine Nature. Augustine saith, the Spirit here signifies 
the Father, the Water signifies the Holy Ghost,. . and the 
Blood represents the Son *. 

Mr. Wakefield considers the passage as a proof of our 
blessed Saviours real dissolution : the spirit, the water, and 
the blood all concurring to prove the certainty of his death. 
But then he would translate spirit, breath. His breath was 
gone, blood and water issued from the pericardium, when 
the sphere pierced his side, and therefore no doubt can re- 
main but he was actually in the state of the deadf. 

602. ff Sensual^ having not the spirit" Jude 19. 

603. " Praying in the Holy Ghost." Jude 20. 

604. u The seven spirits which are before his throne." 
Rev. 1 . 4. — Dr. Lightfoot says, John terms the Holy Ghost 
the seven spirits according to the Jews common speech, 
who speak much of the seven spirits of the Messiah. And 
Witsius well observes that the seven spirits are never* said 
to worship God, as the elders and living creature do; but 
on the contrary are invoked by John; which honour belongs 
not to created spirits ; and that John invokes them in the 
same manner and with the same worship as he gives to the 
Father and the Son, as the author with the Father and Son, 
of grace and peace, without any note of discrimination J. 

This is a clear instance of prayer to the three Divine 
Persons, the Father, the Spirit, and the Son. Consult 

* See Peter Martyr's Common Places, part 1. chap. 12- page 105. 
t Evidence of Christianity, Remark 43, p. 2-27, i Exercit. de 

Spirit. Saact. p. 428 



344 



DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



PART IV. 



Hurrion on this place, who is particularly satisfactory, p. 
152—156. 

605. " I was in the spirit on the Lord's day." Rev. 
h 10. 

606. u Let him hear what the spirit saith unto the 
churches." Rev. 2. 7« — This is seven times repeated in the 
second and third chapters. 

607- " Immediately I was in the spirit " Rev. 4. 2. 

608. " I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and 
of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a 
Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven 
eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all 
the earth." Rev. 5. 6. 

609. u Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord 
Yea, saith the spirit ; that they may rest from their la- 
bours." Rev. 14. 13. 

6W* He carried me away in the spirit." Rev. 17. 3. 

611. "The testimony of Jesus in the spirit of pro- 
phecy." Rev. 19. 10. 

612. " He carried me away in the spirit to a great 
mountain." Rev. 21. 10, 

613. a The spirit and the Bride say, Come" Rev. 
22. 7. 

This is the account which the bible gives us of the 
person and operations of the Holy Spirit ; from all which 
it appears, that he is mentioned upwards of three hundred 
times in the two testaments — that he was in the beginning 
engaged with God in the creation of the natural world — 
that he hath a real, true, and personal existence— that he is 
omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent; and eternal in his 
nature — that he rs equally the Spirit of God and of Christ, 
and proceedeth both from one and the other — that he is 
essentially God, and to be worshipped by every human crea- 
ture, who believeth in the name of Jesus- — that it was he 
who led the Israelites, and gave them rest after their forty 
years travel in the wilderness — that to lie unto him is the 
same as lying unto God — that blasphemy against him is a 
sin never to be forgiven, either in this world, or in the" 
world to come — that if we are to be baptized in the name 
of the Father and Son, so also in the name of the Holy 
Ghost — that if we are to be blessed in the name of the/ 



sect. 2, Neiv Testament Evidence, 343 



Father and Son, so also in the name of the Holy Ghost — 
that if the Father and the Son bear record, so also doth the 
Holy Ghost — that he alone it was who formed the body of 
Jesus — that he conducted Christ in all the actions of his 
life — endued him with more than human wisdom and know- 
ledge — enabled him to work miracles at his own pleasure — 
and finally raised him from the dead, as he will also be the 
agent in raising the bodies of the whole human race at the 
last day— that it is he who striveth with the hearts of men, 
illuminating, convincing, reproving, restraining, and draw- 
ing us from sin and folly to wisdom, piety, and truth — that 
it is he too who dwells in the hearts of his faithful servants, 
as in a temple, claiming our obedience and adoration — 
that all the qualifications of the Apostles and Evangelists 
for the great work in which they were engaged were from 
him — that he enlightened, roused, warmed, and fortified 
their minds, enabling them to speak strange languages, to 
work wonders in confirmation of the doctrines which they 
taught, to foretel future events, to speak with wisdom and 
courage before kings, and to confirm their testimony in 
every way that was suitable with the divine understanding 
— that this same blessed Spirit is also the inspirer of all 
ingenious arts and inventions, the reviver of the languishing 
powers of nature, and the infuser of courage and fortitude 
into the minds of men :— -that he is the author of all moral 
and religious excellency, grace, wisdom, knowledge, good- 
ness, piety, truth, patience, long-suffering, forbearance, 
righteousness, love, peace, joy, consolation, hope, trust, and 
whatever else can make us holy and happy here, and prepare 
us for glory and felicity hereafter — that the Prophets and 
Apostles spake only as they were moved by him ; and to 
him alone we are indebted for all their invaluable writings 
~— that, finally, it is his particular office to reveal Christ to 
our minds, and that no man can properly and savingly say,, 
that Jesus is the Lord, but by a power derived from him. 

Dr. Owen, in his excellent book on the Spirit, illustrates 
the personality of the Holy Ghost, as taught in scripture, by 
a pertinent similitude. It is impossible, says he, to prove 
the Father to be a person, or the Son to be a person, any 
other way than we may prove the Holy Ghost to be so. 
tor he to whom all personal properties, adjuncts, and 



346 



DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



PA RT IV. 



operations are ascribed * and to whom nothing is ascribed 
but what properly belongs to a person, he is a person ; and 
so are we taught to believe him to be. Thus we know the 
Father to be a person, and the Son also • for our knowledge 
of things is more by their properties, than by their essential 
forms. — There is no personal property belonging to the 
Divine Nature, that is not in one place of scripture or other 
ascribed to the Holy Spirit. 

If a wise and honest man should come and tell you, that 
in a certain country where he had been, there is an ex- 
cellent Governor, who wisely discharges the duties of his 
office ; who hears causes, discerns right, distributes justice, 
relieves the poor, and comforts the distressed ; would you 
not believe that he intended by this description a righteous, 
wise, dilligent, intelligent person ? What else could any 
man living imagine ? 

But now suppose that a stranger, or person of suspicious 
character and credit, should come and say, that the former 
information which you had received was indeed true, but 
that no man or person was intended, but the sun, or the 
ivind, which, by their benign influences, rendered the coun- 
try fruitful and temperate, and disposed the inhabitants to 
mutual kindness and benignity ; and therefore, that the 
whole description of a governor and his actions, was merely 
figurative, though no such intimation had been given you. 
Must you not conclude, either that the first person was a 
notorious trifler, and designed your ruin, if your affairs de- 
pended on his report ; or that your latter informer whose 
veracity you had reason to suspect, had endeavoured to 
abuse both him and you. It is exactly thus in the case be- 
fore us. The scripture tells us, that the Holy Ghost governs 
the church ; appoints overseers of it ; discerns and judges 
all things; comforts the faint; strengthens the weak; is 
grieved and provoked by sin ; and that in these, and many 
other affairs, he works, orders and disposes all things, ac- 
cording to the counsel of his own will. Can any man credit 
this testimony, and conceive otherwise of the Spirit, than as 
a holy, wise, intelligent person ? Now while we are under 
the power of these apprehensions, there come to us some 
men, Socinians, or Quakers, whom we have just cause to 
suspect of deceit and falsehood ; and they tells us, that 



sect. 2. JVeiv Testament Evidence. 347 



what the scripture says of the Holy Ghost is indeed true, 
but that no such person is intended by these expressions, 
but only an accident, a quality, an effect, or influence of the 
power of God, which doth all these things figuratively ; 
that he has a mill figuratively, an understanding figuratively, 
is sinned against figuratively ; and so of all that is said of 
him. Now what can any man, not bereft of natural reason 
as well as spiritual light, conclude ? but either that the 
scripture designed to draw him into fatal errors, or that 
those who impose such a sense upon it, are corrupt seducers, 
who would rob him of his faith and comforts ? Such will 
they at last appear to be *. 

* The Rev. Rowland Hill, in his Village Dialogues, has 
treated the impious folly of representing Scriptural realities 
as mere figures, with that pointed irony which cannot fail 
to produce the effects he intended. He introduces one of 
his dialogists, Mr. Whehead, as saying, we cannot believe, 
that there is any such being as the Holy Ghost. Nor can 
w r e believe, that there is any such a being as the Holy 
Spirit. Consequently we have nothing to do with the 
abstruse notion of regeneration, or, as it is called, the work 
of the Spirit ; we believe, that such sort of expressions are 
to be taken as oriental figures, or as tropical language ; 
and, that it only means a good disposition. We, therefore, 
consequently, deny the popular doctrine of original sin f, 
as there is quite as much virtue as vice in the world; and, 

Burders Abridgment, p. 28, 29. 
t Mr. Belshara, in his discourse against what he calls Popular Errors, 
and from which Mr. Wisehead is now making extracts, speaking against 
original sin, insinuates, as though we believed in the damnation of in- 
fants. Can he be so ignorant of matters of fact as not to know that the 
insinuation is utterly false * , I think he must know how universally it is 
admitted among the people he thus slauders, that the imputation of the 
first Adam's guilt is utterly done away, by the imputation of the second 
Adam's righteousness, among all these, who have not sinned wilfully and 
deliberately, after the similitude of Adam's transgression. We shall pre- 
sently see other methods adopted, to evade the awful truth of man's de- 
pravity, as held forth in Scripture, and evidenced by universal experience ; 
but, I think, the reader will not be a little struck with horror and sur- 
prize, when he notes the following extract from the above-mentioned 
sermon . '* This abominable doctrine [Original Sin] represmts the wise and 
righteous Governor of the universe, as a more savage tyrant; than the most 
merciless despot that ever cursed the human race " 

* .See Infant Salvation, an Essay, &c, 



348 



DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



PART IV. 



we have no doubt at all, as to the devil, that he is entirely 
a fabulous character, and as to what is said concerning those 
who were possessed of the devil, it were irrational to sup- 
pose, that it could mean any thing further than that " they 
were mad, or had hysteric fits;" and as to the existence of 
angels, " though there are frequent allusions to it in the 
New Testament," yet it is " a doctrine that cannot he 
proved or made probable from the light of nature f' 
and, what have we to do with the New Testament, while it 
contradicts the light of nature ? Notwithstanding, therefore, 
the allusion, we chuse to say, " this is no where taught as 
a doctrine of revelation. A judicious Christian, therefore, 
will discard it from his creed ; and, that, not only as a 
groundless, but as a useless and pernicious tenet, which 
tends to diminish our regard to the omniscient, omnipotent, 
and omnipresent God, and to excite superstitious respect to, 
and unreasonable expectations from, imaginary and fictious 
beings * ;" when, therefore, we hear how Jesus was tempt- 
ed of the devil in the wilderness : it was, (for we always 
talk very rationally in our way,) only an allusion to a ficti- 
tious being; and the proper and most rational meaning is, 
that he was fighting with some good and bad thoughts which 
alternately possessed him ; but such were the Eastern 
metaphors and Oriental figures then in use. 

To this, Considerate replies, Then, sir might it not 
have sounded still more rational had you made it out that 
he was fighting with two Eastern metaphors or Oriental 
figures ? that when the angel spoke to Zecharias about the 
birth of John, the forerunner of our Lord, he should not 
have said, "I am Gabriel," but "I am an Oriental figure?" 
and that it was nothing but an Oriental figure that spoke to 
Mary on the same subject ? and that Eastern metaphors or 
Oriental figures appeared unto the shepherds, and sung 
" Glory to -God in the highest, on earth peace, good-will 
towards men ;" and then again, that our Lord had another 
meeting of these Eastern metaphors and Oriental figures in 
the mount of transfiguration ? that an Eastern metaphor 
opened the prison in which Peter was confined, and that 
an Oriental figure knocked off his fetters ? that Paul was 



* Belsham's Caution, p. 21. 



SECT. 2. 



New Testament Evidence. 



349 



converted at the sight of these Eastern metaphors ? that 
Stephen saw somewhat of the like sort before he was stoned ? 
and that an Eastern metaphor stood by Paul when nearly 
shipwrecked ? And if these be not enough, I could give you 
further lucubrations on your rational way of explaining 
these Eastern metaphors. 

Mr. Hill adds, the Socinians suppose they have a right 
to take these preposterous liberties on this subject, because 
these spiritual existences are described as being powers and 
virtues Therefore they are not real existences, but figura- 
tive allusions. We will produce a few more passages where 
the real existence of such spirits is positively mentioned, 
and then we shall see how far common sense will befriend 
them in their rational religion. 

Beelzebub, the prince of the devils — the prince of the 
eastern metaphors. — Unto which of the Angels (oriental 
figures) said he at any time, This day have I begotten thee. 
Let all the angels of God (eastern melaphors) worship hirm 
— Our Lord cast out a whole legion of eastern metaphors 
from tbe man among the tombs, and the same set of eastern 
metaphors drove the swine into the sea. — Whether there be 
thrones, dominions, principalities, and power. All tropical 
language — only eastern metaphors. — Christ spoiled princi- 
palities and powers : he spoiled eastern metaphors and 
oriental figures. — The ministering spirits sent forth to mi- 
nister to those who shall be heirs of salvation, these are 
also to be understood as nonenities, or oriential figures. — 
The angels (oriental figures) who kept not their first estate. 
— -There was fire prepared for the devil and his angels 
(for an eastern metaphor and his oriental figure) — But 
enough of this. I had not troubled the reader with so much 
on a supposition so absurd, had it not been to give a fair 
specimen of the wisdom of those who can bestow such high 
compliments on themselves and on the rationality of their 
religion. 



350 



J>OCTRINE OF THE TRINITY, 



PART V. 



PART FIFTH, 
« ^» » 

SECTION L 

A VIEW OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY TRINITY FROM THE 
OLD TESTAMENT. 



The unity of God a first principle in religion. — Hoiv the 
word elohim is understood. — Three divine persons en- 
gaged in the creation of the world. — Various testimonies. 
Incontestable evidence of a plurality, in the God- 
head, from the Old Testament ivritings. — An objection 
answered. — Striking illustration of Numbers 6. 24 — 
26. — Quotation from Bishop Patrick. — Expositions of 
Isaiah? s visio?i. — Chrysostom's views of the Trinity. — 
One revelation of this doctrine would be sufficient to 
establish it as a truth. 

We lay this down as a first principle, agreed upon by all 
sects and denominations of Christians throughout the world, 
that there is none other God but one. 

Let us now examine the scriptures, and see how this one 
God hath spoken of himself in the several ages of the world. 
He must certainly be the best judge in what manner to speak 
of his own adorable nature. And as he hath spoken of him- 
self, so ought we to speak likewise. Indeed it is infinitely 
dangerous to speak of him otherwise. — Why do we assert 
three persons in the Godhead ? Not because we find them 
in the Athanasian creed, but because the scripture hath 
revealed there are three, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to 



sect. I. 



Testimony of Moses. 



351 



whom the Divine Nature and attributes are given. This we 
verily believe that the scripture hath revealed, and that there 
are a great many places, of which, we think no tolerable 
sense can be given without it ; and therefore we assert this 
doctrine on the same grounds on which we believe the scrip- 
tures. And if there are three persons which have the divine 
Nature attributed to them ; what must we do in this case ? 
Must we cast off the unity of the Divine Essence ? No ; 
that is too frequently and plainly asserted for us to call it in 
question. Must we reject those scriptures which attribute 
Divinity to the Son and Holy Ghost, as well as to the Fa- 
ther ? That we cannot do, unless we cast off those books of 
scripture, wherein those things are contained*. 

Dr. Isaac Barrow, one of the first of Christians and scho- 
lars, says, That there is one Divine Nature or Essence, 
common unto three persons incomprehensibly united, and 
ineffably distinguished ; united in essential attributes, dis- 
tinguished by peculiar idioms and relations ; all equally infi- 
nite in every divine perfection, each different from the other 
in order and manner of subsistence ; that there is a mutual 
existence of one in ail, and all in one ; a communication 
without any deprivation or diminution in the communicant ; 
an eternal generation, and an eternal procession without 
precedence or succession, without proper causality or depen- 
dance ; a Father imparting his own, and the Son receiving 
his Father's life, and a Spirit issuing from both, without any 
division or multiplication of essence; these are notions 
which may well puzzle our reason in conceiving how they 
agree, but should not stagger our faith in assenting that they 
are true ; upon which we should meditate, not with hope to 
comprehend, but with dispositions to admire, veiling our 
faces in the presence, and prostrating our reason at the feet 
of wisdom so far transcending us*. 
To begin with Genesis : — 

614.* " In the beginning God created the heavens and 
the earth. And the earth was without form and void, and 
darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of 
God f moved upon the face of the waters. — Now this pas- 

* Defence of the Trinity, p . 7, 8. 

t It has been observed by several of the Christian Fathers, that in these 
two verses, the three persons in the blessed Tiinity are plainly distinguished 



352 DOCTRINE OP THE TRINITY. PART V. 

sage of sacred writ, as well as many others, contains some 
important information in the original language which does 
not appear in our translation. For it is very remarkable, 
that the Hebrew word, which we render God, is used in the 
plural number. 

R. Bechai, a celebrated author among the Jews, discour- 
sing of the word Elohim, and of the importance and sig- 
nification of it, adds these words-—" According to the Cab- 
balistical way this name Elohim is two words, namely, El 
him, that is, They are God. But the explanation of the 
Jod is to be fetched from Eccles." 12. 1. Remember thy 
Creators. He that is prudent will understand it, — These 
words do sufficiently prove the Cabbala among the Jews, 
that though the Divine Nature was but one, yet there was 
some kind of plurality in this Divine Nature : and this is 
fairly insinuated in the Bera Elohim, which we find in the 
beginning of Genesis % — R. H una is introduced in a Jewish 
work as saying, that if this kind of language had not been 
written, it would not have been lawful to say, The Elohim 
hath created, Sfc. f — Likewise the Jewish Rabbi, Limborch 
tells us, that in the word Elohim there are three degrees, 
each distinct by itself, yet all one, joined in one, and not 
divided from one another J. 

It is clear too, how sensible the Jews have been, that there 
is a notion of plurality imported in the Hebrew text, since 
they have forbidden their common people the reading of the 
history of the creation, f lest understanding it literally, it should 
lead them into heresy §. — The degrees in the Divine Nature 
are called by the cabalistic doctors the Panim or Faces ; the 
Havioh, or Subsistences, and the Prosopin, or Persons. — It 
may be observed here likewise that the Hebrew doctors always 
supposed the first verse of Genesis to contain some latent 
mystery. The Rabbi Ibba indeed expressly says it doe?, and 
adds, This mystery is not to be revealed till the coming of 
the Messiah. — It is worth observing too, that the ancient 

the first in the word of God, the second in the word Beginning or PrincU 
pie, the third in the words Spirit of God. iSee Bibliotheca Biblica, on the 
place, and Fleming's Christology, vol. 1. p. 276. 

* Kidder's Demonstration, part 3. p, 81. t Martini Pygio 

Fidei, p. 488. $ Leslie's Short Method with Deists and Jews. 

§ Allix, p. 132, 



sect. 1. Testimony of Moses. 353 

Jews, not causing to use the singular name Jehovah, have 
substituted for it Adonai, a noun in the plural signifying 
My Lords * 

In the beginning God created, is, by the Jerusalem 
Targum, rendered, " By his Wisdom God created." This 
is in conformity with the words of Solomon, where he says, 
The Lord by Wisdom hath founded the earth, by Under- 
standing hath he established the heavens. Prov. 3. U 
The book of Wisdom too says, " Give me Wisdom that 
sitteth by thy throne." Chap. 9. 4. And in the 17 verse of 
the same chapter the author of that book says again, " Thy 
council who hath known, except thou give Wisdom and 
send thy Holy Spirit from above/' This is agreeable to 
the notions of the ancient Jews, who usually called the se- 
cond number in the Divine essence Wisdom, and the third 
Understanding. Irenaeus seems to have had the same 
ideas when he said, The Father has ever with him his Word 
and Wisdom, his Son and Spirit, by whom and in whom he 
made all things freely f. And in another place the JVord 
and Wisdom, the Son and Spirit, are called the Hands of 
God by which he made the world J. This idea was com- 
mon both among the ancient Jews and Christian fathers §. 

Is it not extraordinary, that Moses, the man of God, who 
was above all things careful to guard his people against 
every species of idolatry, should in the very beginning of, 
and all the way through, his Law, make use of a word for 
the name of God, which led them to think of a plurality, 
when the language afforded other words in the singular 
number that would have answered his purpose equally 
well? What might be his reason? Upon the supposition 
of a plurality of persons in the Divine Nature, is easily 
accounted for; but not, I think, in a satisfactory manner ||, 
upon any other. And it appears from several of the Jewish 
writings, which are not contained in the bible, that they did 
actually understand the hints, interspersed in the books of 
Moses, as conveying the idea of a plurality in the Supreme 

* See Maurice's Indian Antiquities, vol. 4. p. 473, 474. t Lib, 4, c, 20. 
+ See the same book and chapter. § See Bishop Horsley's Tracts, 
p. 47. 6ic, J| See Maurice's History of Indostan, vol. 1. p,72. 

A a 



354 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. PART ^. 

Being. If it be inquired of what persons this plurality 
consists? Two are most evidently mentioned in the context, 
namely, the Father and the Holy Spirit. And the work of 
creation is frequently, in the New Testament, ascribed to 
Jesus Christ. Therefore, here are three persons, namely, 
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, most evidently 
concerned in the original creation of the world. And 
when Moses made use of a plural noun for the name of God, 
w hich he does thirty times in the short history of the crea- 
tion, and, perhaps five hundred times more in one form or 
other in the five books of his writings, this, I apprehend, 
was the idea he meant to convey to mankind. He meant, 
or rather the Holy Spirit, by whom he was inspired to write 
his history, meant, to give some hints and intimations of a 
doctrine more clearly to be revealed in future ages. 

John Xeres, a Jew converted here in England some 
years ago, published a sensible and affectionate address to 
his unbelieving brethren, wherein he says, that the word 
Ehhhn, which is rendered God in Gen. 1. 1. is of the 
plural number, though annexed to a verb of the singu- 
lar number ; which, says he, demonstrates as evidently 
as may be, that there are several persons partaking of the 
same divine nature and essence *. 

Irenseus is exactly of the same opinion : — The Father, 
says he, made all things, visible and invisible, not by angels, 
nor by any powers separated from his own mind ; for the 
God of all stands in need of nothing; but, by his own 
Word and Spirit, makes, governs, and gives being to all 
things f. 

This sentiment may, perhaps, be further corroberated by 
an observation which the Rabbins have made on the verb, 
ion, the second word in the Hebrew bible, which is in the 
third person singular, though joined with a nominative 
case in the third person plural. The letters of this word 
are supposed by them to express these three characters, the 
Son, the Spirit, and the Father. Thus n is the initial 
letter of p the Son ; n the initial letter of nn the Spirit; 
and N the initial letter of UN the Father. The Triangle 
in Egypt was of old considered as a just symbol of the 
threefold Deity; and in the celebrated Jewish book called 

* Jones on the Trin. chap. 3.sect v 1. t Lib, 1. cap. 22. sect. 1* 



sect. 1. Testimony of Moses. 355 



Zohar the three brandies of the Hebrew letter Schin are 
asserted to be a proper emblem of the three persons that 
compose the Divine essence. Sometimes the Jews have 
called these three persons three Spirits ; at other times 
three Powers; and at other times three Lights. It may 
be observed, moreover, that the Jews had several other sym- 
bolical representations of the Trinity besides the Hebrew 
Schin. There was the three Jods and the Chametz in a 
circle ; the three Rays in form of a crown ; the Sphere 
with three hands ; the Cherubim ; and some others #, 

615.* When God had nearly gone through the six days 
creation, and was come to the formation of the human 
species, he changes his manner of speaking, and says, not 
" Let man" be, as before ; nor, " I will make man but, 
— " Let us make man, in our image after our likeness." 

The Jews tell us, that when Moses was writing the six 
days works, and came to this verse, he made a stop, and 
said, " Lord of the world, why wilt thou give an occasion 
to heretics to open their mouths against the truth ?" They 
add also that God replied to Moses, " Write on ; he that 
will err, let him err f." —This fabulous story was invented 
on purpose by the Jews to defend themselves against the 
Christians, who from the beginning contended for a plurality 
in the Godhead founded on this text. It shews in a very 
strong light the opinion the Jews had of the force of this 
and such like passages. Philo, the learned Jew, says, that 

the words, Let us make man, signify plurality J. 

Philo speaks more at large in another place : — Why, says 
he, does God say, In the image of God made I man, and 
not in his own image, as if he had spoken of another God ? 
This scripture expression is for wise and good reasons, for 
nothing mortal can be fashioned after the image of the 
supreme God and Father of all things, but of his Word, 
who is the second God §* 

* For a particular account of which consult Maurice's Indian Anti- 
quities, vol. 4. 

+ Bereshit Rabba, Parash. 8. See also Patrick on the place, and 
Maimonides's More Nevochini^par. 2. cap. 29. 

X Page 312, Paris Edit. 1552. et alibi, 

§ Apud Euseb. Pnep. Evang\?„ 13, See the passage quoted at large 
in Allix's Judgment, p. ISC 

a a 2 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART V. 



" Let us"— -plainly implying, or rather, plainly expres- 
sing a plurality of persons. And, as may be fully gathered 
from other parts of the bible, the persons expressed, or im- 
plied, are no other than the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
Ghost : for these three, and no other, were concerned in 
the work of creation. Compare Job 26. 13; 33.43 Psa. 
33. 6; Eccl. 12. 1 ; Isa. 40. 13 ; Mai. 2. 15; John 1. 3; 
Col. 1. 16; and Heb. 1, 2. 10. 

The Fathers were unanimous in their judgment that 
these words were spoken by the Father to the Son, or Spirit, 
or both. I will produce a specimen. — Barnabas says : — 
And for this the Lord was contented to suffer for our souls, 
though he be the Lord of the world ; to whom God said the 
day before the formation of the world, Let us make man 
after our image and similitude*. — Hermas says, He was 
present in counsel with his Father for the forming of the 
creature f. — Theophilus of Antioch says, He directed these 
words, Let us make man. to none other, but his own Word 
and his own Wisdom — Irenaeus says, His Word and Wis- 
dom, his Son and Spirit, are always present with him, to 
whom also he spake, saying, Let us make man, Sec. § — 
Again : — Man was fashioned after the image and likeness 
of the uncreated God, the Father, willing his creation, the 
Son ministering and forming him, the Holy Ghost nourish- 
ing and encreasing him ||. — Tertullian says, Nay, because 
his Son is ever present with him, the second person, his 
Word ; and the third, the Spirit in the Word ; therefore he 
spake in the plural, Let its make man in our imaged, — 
Novatian says, Who does not acknowledge the Son to be 
the second person after the Father, when he reads that it 
was said to the Son by the Father, Let as make man **. — 
Origen says, To him also spake he (the Father) Let as 
make man after our itridgeff; — Who is this, saith Athana- 
sius, that God converses with here? To whom are these 
notifications and determinations of his pleasure directed ? 
Not to any of the creatures already made; much less to 
those things which were not yet created ; but, undoubtedly 



* Ep, c. 5. t Sim 9. sect. 12. 

§ Lib. 4. cap, 37. and lib. 5. c. 15. 
f Adv. Prax 9 c. 12. $ Cap. 21, 25. 



t Ad. Autol.l. 2. p. 96. 
|| Lib. 4. cap. 75. 
tt Cont. Cel. lib. 1. p,63. 



sect. 1. Testimony of Moses. 357 

to some person, who was then present with the Father, 
with whom he communicated his counsels, and of whose 
agency he made use in the creation of them. And., who 
could this be but his eternal Word? With whom can we 
conceive the Father holding this conference, but with his 
Son, the divine Logos, that Wisdom of God, that was pre- 
sent with him, and acted with him, in the creation of the 
world, who was in the beginning with God, and was God ? 
and who saith ol himself, When he prepared the heavens, 
I was there; when he appointed the foundation of the 
earth, then was Ihy him, as one brought up with him. — 
Augustine saith, Had God said no more, than, Let us make 
man, it might, with some colour, be understood as spoken 
to the angels, whom the Jews pretend he employed in 
framing the body of man, and other creatures : but seeing 
it immediately follows, after our image, it is highly profane 
to believe, that man was made after the similitude of 
angels ; and that the similitude of God and angels is one 
and the same. — Ambrose speaks to the same purpose : God 
could not speak thus to his servants, because it is not to be 
thought, that servants were partners with their Lord, in 
his works of creation ; or the works, with their Author. 
And, supposing this should be admitted, that the work was 
common to God and angels, vet the image was not common. 
— Nay the second counsel jpf Sirmium which was held in 
351 pronounces an anathema upon all those who denied 
this. The words are these : — If any one say, that the Fa- 
ther did not speak to the Son when he said, Let us make 
man, but that God spake to himself, let him be accursed *. 
— Epiphanius says, This is the language of God to his 
Word, and Only-begotten, as all the faithful believe f. — 
And again he says, Adam was formed by the hand of the 
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost J, 

I observe from Irenasus, that he rejects the notion of the 
Jews and Heretics, who supposed God spake to his Angels. 
For disputing against heretics, who attributed the creation of 
the world to Angels, and powers separate from the one true 

* Soerat, lib. 2. c. 30, where the creed may l>e seen at large. 
t Haeres. 23. n. 2, 
* Hzeres. 41. n. 4. See Bibliotheca Biblica oa the placet 
A a 3 



358 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART V. 



God, he says thus : — " Angels did not make us, nor did they 
form us ; neither was it in their power to make the image 
of God : none but the Logos could do this ; no powers dis- 
tinct from the Father of all things : for God did not want 
their assistance in making the things which he had ordained. 
For his Word and his Wisdom, the Son and the Holy Ghost, 
are always with him ; by whom and with whom, he made all 
things freely, and of his own accord ; to whom also he spake 
in these words, Let us make man in our image and like- 
ness" * 

Waterland says, that "this text, Gen. 1. 26, has been 
understood of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, or at least of 
Father and Son, by the whole stream of Christian writers, 
down from the times of the Apostles. The Christians were 
not singular in thinking that the text intimated a plurality. 
The Jews before, and after, believed so too, as appears from 
Philo, and Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho the Jew; 
only they interpreted the text of God and his Angels, which 
the Christians understood of the Persons of the Trinity/' f 

616*,* In the third chapter we have an expression of the 
same kind :^- <£ And the Lord God said, Behold the man is 
become as one of us J, to know good and evil." These 
words also imply a plurality, and were so understood by se- 
veral of the Ancients, Philo, the learned Jew, expressly 
says, that they are to be understood of more than one §. 
And the Jerusalem Targum paraphrases them thus: — "The 
Word of Jehovah said, Here Adam, whom I created, is the 
only-begotten Son in the world, as I am the only-begotten 
Son in the high heavens/' 

6 17-* " Ve shall be as Gods knowing good and evil/' 
Gen. 3. 5. "Gods knowing:"; — both the noun and the 
participle are plural. The speaker too, is that apostate 
spirit, who had been cast out of heaven, which gives extra- 
ordinary significance to the expression. 

* Lib, 4. cap. 37. 

f Eight Sermons, p. 69. For a just yiew of this consultation between 
the persons of the Godhead, see Kennieott's Dissertation on the Tree of 
Lite, p. 29, 30, and 71. 

% Justin Martyr, quoting these words, says, Here there is one speaking 
to another at least, distinct in number, and rational or intelligent,—- 
Diah cum Tryp. p„ 285. 

§ De Confu, Ling. p, 344. See also Bibliotheca Biblica on the place. 



SECT. L 



Testimony of Moses, 



359 



6*18.* "And the Lord said, Goto; let us go down, 
and there confound their language." Gen. 11.7* This is 
another of those passages which has heen understood by 
many of the most learned men of all ages as conveying 
some intimation of a plurality of persons in the Divine 
Nature. 

Philo confesses, that it is plain God spake to some here 
as workers together with fiim *, See also Bibliotheca Biblica 
on the place, Gen. II. 7* Consult likewise Bishop Patrick, 
who is of the same opinion. Justin Martyr says, That Je- 
hovah, who descended to see the tower, was the Son of 
God f. Tertullian says, It is the Son, who from the be- 
ginning gave judgment, beating down the lofty tower, and 
confounding their tongues J. And Novatian the same : — 
What God, says he, do they suppose descended hither to 
that tower, seeking to visit those men at that time? It was 
neither the Father who descended, neither an Angel : it re- 
mains, therefore, that he descended, of whom the apostle 
Paul said, He that descended is the same also that ascended, 
&e. that is, the Son, the Word of God |, 

619.* " The Lord mined upon Sodom and Gomorrah 
brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven." Gen. 
19. 24. Menasseh, ben Israel, confesses this place too hard 
for lii.m, unless by the Lord who is on earth, you understand 
the angel Gabriel^ who, as God's ambassador, bears the 
name of God. The ancient Jews, however, found no such 
difficulty in it : for Philo holds, that it was the Logos that 
rained fire from heaven. He says, moreover, that God and 
his two Powers are spoken of in the history of Sodom ||. 

Philo says, that, in the one true God there are two su- 
preme and primary Powers, whom .he denominates, Goodness 
and Authority ; and that there is a third and Mediatorial 
Power between the two former, who is tire Logos. % Speak- 
ing of the Divine Being appearing &> Abraham, he acquaints 
us, that he came attended by his two most high and puis- 
sant Poivers, Principality and Goodness ; " himself in the 
middle of those Powers ; and, though one, exhibiting to the 
discerning soul the appearance of three," In a third place 

* De Conf. Ling. p. 344. t Dial, cum Tryph. p. 356. 

% Ad. Prax. c. 16. § De Trinit. c. 25. || §ec Allix, p. 13J, 148. 
f Dissert, de Cherub. 



360 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART V. 



he is still more decisive ; for he says, The Father of All is 
in the middle. He moreover calls one the Power, Creator, 
and the other the Power, Regal. He then adds, The 
Power, Creator, is God; the Regal Power is called 
Lord. * Ambrose says upon this passage : — Abraham was 
not ignorant of the Holy Spirit. He really saw three, and 
adored one ; because one Lord, one God, and one Spirit f. 
Prudentius, a Christian poet, who flourished in the fourth 
century, hath given the judgment of the ancients on the di- 
vine appearances, and especially on this to Abraham, to the 
following purpose : — 

" Wherp-e'er it's mentioned in the sacred code, 
That human eye beheld the form of God, 
This notes the Son, the Son of God most high, 
Whose form was manifest to human eye. 
Pure Deity our faculties transcends ; 
No eye can see, no reason comprehends. 
But that to man, God might this truth disclose, 
A shape, to sight conspicuous, he chose. 
Display'd to Abram this appearance was, 
Abram the founder of the chosen race. 
'Twas this the hospitable man did see, 
Beneath the shade of Mamre's hallow'd tree. 
But in the number of three guests divine, 
The sacred Triad did mysterious shine." 

620. cc And it came to pass when God caused me to 
w T ander from my father's house." Gen. 20. 13. £ZD>n^K 
^nn In the Hebrew it is, " When Gods caused me to 
wander." Both the noun and the verb are plural. 

621. fi There God appeared unto Jacob when he fled 
from the face of his brother." Gen. 35. /• CD'H^KH lVjtf 
In the original it runs — 66 There Gods appeared :" both the 
noun and the verb are again plural. — In short : The word 
Aleim, which we translate God, is evidently of the plural 
number, and has for its singular Ale. It is sometimes join- 
ed with a verb in the singular number ; and sometimes it 
is joined both with adjectives, pronouns, and verbs of the 
plural number. Parkhurst's Hebrew and English Lexicon, 
p. 22, where many more of such instances are referred to. 

* See Maurice's Indian Antiquities, vol. 4, p. 545, 546. 
\ See Witsius on the Covenants, book 4, ch, 3, where he speaks at 
iMge on this appearance to Abraham* 



SECT. 1. 



Testimony of Moses, 



361 



Consult likewise Mr. Parkhurst's Pamphlet against Dr. 
Priestley and Mr. Wakefield, p. 3—9, and p. 148, &c. 

622. " But God suffered him not to hurt me." Gen. 
31.7- CD»n^S urn Literally — "But the Elohim gave him 
not to injure me." The noun and verb are both plural. 

623. " Because there God appeared unto him." Gen. 
35. 7« -1^3 DTl^Kn Literally — " because there they, 
even God, was revealed unto him." Here again a verb 
plural, is joined with the name of God, to signify the mys- 
tery of the Trinity in the unity of the Godhead. See Ains- 
worth in loco. 

62 1. u For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God." 
Exod. 20. 5. Here are three words by which to express 
the Almighty—Jehovah, Elohim, and El, referring, as some 
have thought, to the three persons in the Divine Nature. 
Such, at least, was the opinion of an ancient Jewish writer. 
His words are as follow: — "I am the Lord, thy God, a 
jealous God. Three answering to the three by whom the 
world was made." * When God revealed himself to Moses, 
lie passed by and proclaimed his name three times over : 

625. " The Lord, the Lord, God, gracious and merciful." 
Ex. 34. 6. b$ mrv rnh' — Jehovah, Jehovah, God. Ains- 
worth on the place. This seems to be an intimation of the 
same mysterious truth, that the Divine Nature exists under 
the three distinctions of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

626. " Up, make us Gods, which shall go before us." 
Ex. 32. 1. It is plain the word Elohim is here used as a 
plural noun. AVIDb 117' nttfK CZJ'n^N 1^ TOtf — The Sep- 
tuagint translates D'H/K here, as well as in several other 
places Gsot and Qiog. It is objected, that if we make Elohim 
a plural noun, then Baalim and others must be plural, be- 
cause they too are used with verbs in the singular or plural 
number, according to circumstances. But this objection is 

* The Author of Midi-ash Tillim. See Kidder's Demonstration of the 
Messiah, p. 3, p. 84. Patrick also observes upon the 40th verse of the 
23d ch. of Leviticus, that on a certain day of the year the Jews frequently 
repeat the following prayer, as though they besought the blessed Trinity 
to save and send them help ; 

u For thy sake. O our Creator, hosanna. 
" For thy sake, O our Redeemer, hosanna. 
u For thy sake, O our Seeker, hosanna. 



362 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART V. 



of no force, when it is considered, that the Heathens actually 
worshipped a plurality of gods. If, therefore, they gave 
them plural names on any occasion, it is nothing more than 
might have been expected. Besides, it is not improbable, 
but the errors which prevailed among them, respecting the 
multiplicity of their Gods, might take their rise from the 
Hebrew Elohim 5 and they might choose to speak of their 
deities in a plural form in imitation of this name. Grants 
ing, however, that the Hebrew language does abound with 
such irregularities (and every other language more or less 
does) as plural nouns with singular verbs, and the contrary, 
we do by no means rest the doctrine of the Trinity upon this 
foundation alone. There are various other corroborating 
circumstances, which the reader will strictly note as he goes 
along, that give an emphasis to these observations upon the 
word Elohim, not to be found in the plural noun Baalim, 
or any other of a similar kind. And then, when the great 
body of evidence for the doctrine of the Trinity is taken into 
the account, it is no way improbable, but 6od might design 
to give some intimation of the doctrine at the very opening 
of the bible, in the word made use of by which to express 
the Divine Being. This is the more probable, because all 
the dispensations of God to our world from the beginning 
have been of a progressive kind. 

627.* The blessing pronounced by the priest upon the 
people, when he dismissed them from the daily service of 
the temple, was very remarkable, and, as some suppose, in 
the name of the three persons in the Divine Nature :— « 
" The Lord bless thee, and keep thee :" " The Lord make 
his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee 
cc The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give 
thee peace/' Num. 6*. 24-^-26'. Patrick says, The repeti- 
tion of this name three times, in these three verses, and 
that with a different acceut in each of them, (as R. Mena- 
chem observes,) hath made the Jews themselves think 
there is some mystery in it : which we understand, though 
they do not. For it may well be looked upon by us, as hav- 
ing respect to the three persons in the blessed Trinity, w]io 
are one God, from whom all blessings flow unto us, 2 Cor. 
13, 14. This mystery, as Luther wisely expresses it, upon 
Psalm 5, is here occulte insinuatum, secretly insinuated, 



SECT. 1. 



2 y estimony of Jloscs. 



363 



though not plainly revealed. And it is not hard to show, 
if this were a place for it, how properly God the Father may 
be said to bless and keep us ; and God the Son to he gra- 
cious unto us ; and God the Holy Ghost to give us peace. 
The learned Witsius enlarges somewhat more on this scrip- 
ture : — The three repetitions of the name Jehovah intimates 
a great mystery ; neither is the remark of R. Menachem to 
be rejected concerning the three variations of the accents on 
the same word : which, what can it signify more aptly than 
the adorable Trinity of Divine Persons in one Deity, whence 
as from an ever-flowing fountain all benediction is derived 
to us? Compare 2 Cor. 13, 14. Rev. 1. 4 — 6*. The first 
section. — The Lord bless thee and keep thee — is very con- 
veniently referred to the Father, concerning whom Paul 
writes, Ep. 1.3. Blessed be God, even the Father of our 
Lord ,/esus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual 
benedictions hi Christ : and to whom Christ himself saith, 
John 1/. 11, Holy Father, keep them through thine own 
name. The next section. — The Lord make his face to shine 
upon thee, and be gracious unto thee — belongeth unto 
Christ, who is the light of the world, and of the heavenly 
Jerusalem, Rev, 21. 23 ; whose face shineth as the sun, 
Rev. 1. 16; in whose face is the light of the knowledge of 
the glory of God, 2 Cor. 4. 6 ; in whom is most completely 
accomplished that proverb of the wisest of kings, In the 
light of the king's countenance is life, and his favour is as a 
cloud of the latter rain, Prov. 16. 15 5 in whom, finally, are 
the exceeding riches of his grace, Eph. 2. The last sec- 
tion. — The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and 
give thee peace — where he signifies the application of grace, 
and the communication of peace and joy, and it is properly 
applied to the Holy Spirit, through whom the kingdom of 
God is to us righteousness, and peace, and joy, Rom, 14. 

17*. 

An ancient Jewish author says. That the repeating Je- 
hovah three times in this place teacheth us, that these names 
of the blessed God are three powers, and adds, every distinct 
power is like to each other, and hath the same name with itf. 
Petrus Alphonsi, an eminent Jew, converted in the begin- 

* Mise, Sacr. lib. 2, diss. 2, p. 518. t Kidder s Dem. part 3, p. 86, 



364 



DOCTRINE OF TUB TRINITY. 



PART V. 



ning of the twelfth century, and presented to the font by 
Alphonsus, a king of Spain, wrote a learned treatise against 
the Jews, wherein he presses them with this scripture, as a 
plain argument — that there are three persons to whom the 
great and incommunicable name of Jehovah is applied. 
And even the unconverted Jews, according to Bechai, one 
of their Rabbies, have a tradition, that when the High 
Priest pronounced this blessing over the people — elevatione 
manuum sic digitos composuit, ut Triada exprimerent — he 
lifted up his hands, and disposed his fingers into such a form 
as to express a Trinity. All the foundation there is for this 
in scripture is, Lev. 9. 22. As for the rest, be it a matter 
fact or not, yet if we consider whence it comes, there is 
something very remarkable in it *. 

May not Paul be justly supposed to explain this divine 
benediction upon the Jewish church by the following bene- 
diction upon the Christian ? " The grace of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, and the love of God. and the fellowship of the Holy 
Ghost, be with you all. Amen." If this was the view of 
Paul, as is highly probable, I think, then we have the best 
authority for applying the Jewish benediction in question to 
the three persons of the Divine Nature, Father, Son, and 
Spirit. 

6'2S. " What nation is there so great, that hath God so 
nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that 
we call upon him for ?" Deut. 4. 7. In the original it is 
" Gods so nigh." Both the noun and the adjective are 
plural — D>mp "The author of Zohar cites these 

words of R. Jose, (a famous Jew of the second century,) 
where examining this text, Who have their Gods so near 
to them, What, saith he, may be the meaning of this ? It 
seems that Moses should have said, Who have God so near 
them. But— there is a superior God, and there is the God 
who was the fear of Isaac, and there is an inferior God ; and 
therefore Moses saith, The Gods so near. For there are 

* See Observ. Jos. de vois. in Pug. Fid. p. 400, 556, 557. Jones's 
Catholic Doctrine, p. 101. Consult too Maurice's Ind. Ant. vol. 4, p. 
589, 590, where this triple benediction is referred to the three Hypostases, 
by the practice both of the Jews and Mahometans. 



SECT. 1. 



Testimony of Moses, 



365 



many virtues that come from the Only One, and all they 
are One." * 

629. " For who is there of all flesh that hath heard the 
voice of the living God, speaking out of the midst of the 
fire ?" Deut. 5. 26. What we translate the living God in 
this verse is living Gods. Both the noun and the adjective 
are in the plural number, as in the last case — .D»!7 Dt6k 

630. When Moses begins to rehearse and explain the 
Law to the people, the first thing he teacheth them is, the 
nature of the one living and true God : but this he does in 
such a way as seems to insinuate a distinction in the Su- 
preme Being. " Hear, O Israel^ the Lord our God is one 
Lord or as it may be rendered, " Hear, O Israel, the 
Lord, our God, the Lord, is one." Deut. 6. 4. bn*\W> #Di£f 
*7i7N Bin* Wnbx mn > Patrick on the place saith : — Many of 
the ancient Fathers, particularly Theodoret and Greg. 
Nyssen, think there is a plain intimation of the blessed Tri- 
nity in these words. The Lord our God is one Lord. And 
some of the Jews themselves have thought, there was some- 
thing extraordinary in it, that the name of God should be 
thrice mentioned, as it is in this sentence : which signifies 
three Midoth, or properties, they confess ; which they some- 
times call three Faces, or Emanations, or Sanctifications, 
or Numerations, though they will not call them three Per- 
sons. — The Cabbalists say as much, who asserting ten 
Sephiroth in God, which they take to be something different 
from the essence of God, and yet not creatures, but emana- 
tions from it, — they make the three first of them to be more 
than the other seven ; and call them Primordial. The First 
of which they call the Wonderful Intelligence and the First 
Intellectual Light, as James calls God the Father of Lights 
and the First Glory. The Second they call, among other 
names, the Illuminating Intelligence, just as John saith, 
the Eternal Word enlightens every one that cometh into 
the world, and the Second Glori/. And the Third they call 
the Sanctified Intelligence — which is the very same with 
the Holy Spirit. All this we find in the book Jetzira, which 
they fancy was made by Abraham. From whence we can- 
not but learn that they had an obscure notion of the blessed 
Trinity ; and that the Apostles used no other language about 
it, than what was among the Jews : the best of whom are 

* Allix's Judgment, p, 169. 



366 DOCTRINE OF THE TRlNfTY. PART V. 

so sensible of such things, as I have mentioned, that they 
think we Christians are not idolaters, though we believe 
three Persons in the Godhead, (which they fancy inclines to 
polytheism,) because we believe the Unity of God, and 
therefore may be saved as well as they *. 

631. "The Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods, he 
knoweth/' Josh. 22. 22. These are the words of the 
children of Gad, and the children of Reuben. " El, Elo- 
him, Jehovah : El, Elohim, Jehovah, he knoweth." This 
is the literal translation, and seems to refer to the same 
threefold distinction. 

An ancient Jewish writer, the author of Midrash Tilling 
observes, that in several texts of the Hebrew bible God is 
called by three names. He particularly mentions this pas- 
sage, and the other I have noticed from the 20th chapter of 
Exodus. Upon the text before us he says, Why are these 
three names mentioned twice ? And then he answers — 
Because by them the world was made, and because by them 
the law was given, f 

632. " Ye cannot serve the Lord ; for he is an holy 
God ; he is a jealous God." Josh. 24. 19. In the original 
it is holy Gods, the noun and adjective being both plural — 
.D'ttflp D'H^K In the phrase "he is a jealous God/' how- 
ever, both the noun and the adjective are singular — KUp 
.Kin Kennicot observes, that the first part of this verse, 
Ye cannot serve the Lord, ought to be translated, Ye shall 
not cease to serve the Lord, which removes a difficulty, and 
makes good sense. 

633. "What one nation in the earth is like thypeople^ 
even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to 
himself ?" 2 Sam. 7- 23. .D'H^N ID^rt Here also there 
is a peculiarity in the Hebrew, which does not appear in our 
version. It is whom Gods went to redeem. The noun and 

* Let the reader consult also Bishop Kidder's Demonstration of the 
Messias, part 3d, p. 83, where he will find another ancient Jewish writer 
explaining this passage, Deut. 6, 4, of three distinctions in the Divine 
Nature. 

How the ancient synagogue, or the old Jewish writers understood 
these words, will be farther evident, from an instance or two from their 
book of Zoar. The author mentioning this text in Gen. fol. i. col. 3, and 
the three names Jehovah, Elohenu, Jehovah, says, " These are the three 
degrees in respect of the sublime mystery." 

t See Bishop Kidder's Demonstration of the Messiah, part 3, p; 84: 



sect. 1. Various Inspired Testimonies, 



367 



verb are both plural. Peter Martyr applies this to the three 
persons of the Divine Nature, the Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Ghost, and says, this opinion is true, sound, and catho- 
lic. See his Common Places, part 1. chap. 12. p. 101, 
where he treats upon the subject pretty much at large. 

634. " Where is God my Maker who giveth songs in 
the night?" Job 35. 10. >Vty rtl^N " God, my Makers ;" 
alluding, possibly, to the original consultation — 66 Let us 
make man." Job was no stranger to the three persons of the 
Divine Nature, though he might not have the same clear 
apprehension of their persons and offices as we have, who 
live under a brighter dispensation. Compare chapters 26. 3 } 
33. 4; 19. 25. 

635. " Thou madest him a little better than the angels" 
Psa. 8. 5. — -D'H^ND than the Gods. 

636. * ei By the Word of the Lord were the heavens 
made ; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." 
Psa. 33. 6. — This verse was commonly understood by the 
ancients of the Holy Trinity. Here is Jehovah, the Word 
of Jehovah, and the Breath or Spirit of Jehovah. The first 
denotes the Father, the second, the So?i, and the third, the 
Holy Ghost. 

637. * " Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the 
sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest 
righteousness, and hatest wickedness : therefore God, thy 
God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy 
fellows *. Psa. 45. 6, 7> In this celebrated passage is men- 
tion of the Holy Trinity. Here is the Anointer, the Anoint- 
ed, and the heavenly Unction. The Anointer is the Father; 
the Anointed is the Son ; and the Unction is the Holy 
Ghost. 

638. " The mighty God, even the Lord hath spoken, 
and called the earth from the rising of the sun, unto the 
going down thereof." Psa. 50. 1. — This is one of those 
places where the name of God is expressed by three words, 
as in the twenty-second chapter of Joshua, and the twenty- 
second verse. El, Elohim, Jehovah, hath spoken. 

* Consult Irena?us, lib, 3. cap. 20, where these verses are explained in 
the same manner. See also King on the Creed, p. 126 ; and what has bees 
said more at large upon this passage at No, 25, of this Plea, 



368 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART V. 



Cyprian seems to apply these words to Christ when he 
says : — He is our God, that is, he is not the God of all, but 
only of the faithful and such as believe. He is the God who 
shall not keep silence when he shall be manifested in his 
second coining; for then shall he, who came before in ob- 
scure humility, appear manifest in power*. 

639. " Verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth. 
In the original, Verily the Elohim are judges in the earth." 
Psa. 58, 12. — .D'lDDitf Dt6k See Ainsworth on the place, 
and also on the Psa. 3. 3. 

610. " Man did eat Angels food." Psa. 78. 25. 

641. " Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these 
mighty Gods? These are the Gods that smote the Egyptians 
with all the plagues in the wilderness." DHOX mighty 
ones, in the plural number. 1 Sam. 4. 8. — Here again 
Elohim is joined with two adjectives, mighty and smiting, 
in the plural number. The verse is literally thus : " Who 
shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty, or illustri- 
ous, Elohim? These axe those Elohim, the smiters of the 
Egyptians." That the words Alei, and Aleim are both 
plural, is certain from psalm 96. b. and 97. 7- In tne for- 
mer place it is said, " All the Gods of the nations are vain 
— .TI^N bz" 66 And in the latter — Worship him, all ye 
Gods — b2" The reader will find considerable evi- 
dence upon these subjects in Mr. Parkhurst's answer to Dr. 
Priestley. 

642. " I have said ye are Gods." Psa. 82, 6. DDK D>n^>K 
— " Ye Gods." — This is translated by John in the New 
Testament in the plural number Geo; and Qeoc. See John 
10. 35. Whatever some, therefore, may talk of the idioms 
of the Hebrew tongue, this number and the last amount to 
a demonstration, that the Hebrew word Aleim, or Elohim, 
which we commonly translate, God, in the singular number, 
is naturally, and properly, a plural noun. 

643. " The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my 
right hand." Psa. 110. 1. — The ancient Jews always ap- 
plied this verse to the Messiah. And it is remarkable that 
the Targum renders it, " The Lord said unto his Word, 
Sit thou on my right hand. — The wise son of Sirach speaks 



• De Bene Patientise, 



sect. 1. Various Inspired Testimonies. 369 

nearly in the same terms: — "I called upon the Lord," 
says he, " the Father of my Lord, that he would not leave 
me in the day of my trouble." Eccl. 51. 10. — Is not that 
remarkable text in Genesis explained sufficiently well by 
these two passages ? — " The Lord rained upon Sodom and 
Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of hea- 
ven." Gen. 1 9. 24, Be it also diligently observed, that 
this is one place where Word is unquestionably used for the 
Messiah, as has before been noted. 

644. " O give thanks unto the Lord ; for he is good : 
for his mercy endureth forever," — e( O give thanks unto the 
God of gods : for his mercy endureth forever. O give thanks 
to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth forever." 
Psa. 136. 1 — 3. Here again is a repetition of three names 
of the Almighty, which some persons have thought may 
have an allusion to the several persons in the Godhead — • 
Jehovah, Elohim, and Adeni. For my part, I lay no serious 
stress upon such repetitions, considered in themselves ; but 
when taken in conjunction with the great body of evidence 
dispersed through the two testaments, they seem worthy of 
some attention. I consider them in the light of so many 
allusions to a doctrine more fully afterwards to be revealed. 
In every point of view, they are remarkable constructions, 
and should not be passed over in silence in an inquiry of 
this nature. 

645. "Let Israel rejoice in him that made him." Psa. 
149. 2. vyW2 — In the Hebrew it is, Let Israel rejoice in his 
Makers. And this is very natural and proper, when we 
consider that the three persons of the Divine Nature, Fa- 
ther, Son, and Spirit, were all concerned in the original 
formation of man. " Let us make man." — " Remember 
thy Creators' 9 

646 The spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word 
was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of 
Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, 
ruling in the fear of God,"— When this passage is accurately 
translated it contains the names of the three persons in the 
Divine Nature. — Here is Jehovah, which represents the 
Father ; here is the Just one, which represents the Son j 
and the Spirit of Jehovah, which represents the Holy Ghost. 

b b 



370 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. PART V. 



647. " The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wis- 
dom; and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding/' 
Prov. 9. 10. The original is, and the knowledge of the 
Holy Ones is understanding. — .D'ttHp 

6*48. " I neither learned wisdom, nor have the know- 
ledge of the Holy." Prov. 30. 31. Here again it is in the 
Hebrew, the knowledge of the Holy Ones, as in the last 
instance. 

6*49. " Who hath established all the ends of the earth r 
What is his name, and what is his Son's name, if thou 
canst tell ?" Prov. 30. 4. Here is evidently mention made 
of two of the Sacred Three, the Father and the Son *. 

650. " He that is higher tinn the highest regardeth, 
and there be higher than they." The Hebrew is, High 
ones over them." Eccl. 5. 8. .DTD3 This is understood 
even by the Jews themselves to mean the holy and blessed 
God. Junius and Tremellius put altissimus in their text, 
but acknowledge the Hebrew to be alti — plurale pro singu- 
lari superlativo, mysterium S. Triados notansf. 

65 L " Remember thy Creator in the days of thy 
youth." — In the Hebrew it is, Remember thy Creators, 
To the doctrine of three hypostases fabricating the world, 
there is a most wonderful and decisive attestation afforded 
in Eccl. 12. 1. Remember thy Creators, for so it stands 
in the original Hebrew ; which passage is thus translated, 
and commented upon by the great Michaelis ; Memento 
Creatorum tuorum ; hoc est, Triunius Dei qui te creavit. 
To this testimony of the Hebrew partiarchs and prophets 
being acquainted with a threefold distinction in the Divine 
Nature, may be added that of Isaiah 44. 24. " Thus saith 
the Lord thy Redeemers J." 

652.* " I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and 
lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood 
the Seraphims : each one had six wings. — And one cried 
unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of 
hosts : the whole earth is full of his glory." Isa. 6. 1 — 3. 
— Here we see the Prophet had a vision of the Lord seated 
upon a throne, high and lifted up. The Cherubim and Sera- 
phim stood above him. And they cried one to another in 



* See No. 41. p. 99. t Jones's Catholic Doctrine, p. 91. 

% Maurice's Hist, of Indostan, vol. 1. p. 78. 



sect. 1. Various Inspired Testimonies, 



371 



alternate strains, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of 
hosts." This ascription of holiness three times repeated is 
supposed to belong to the three persons in the Divine 
Nature. For the Lord mentioned in the beginning is by all 
allowed to belong to the Father ; John applies it to the 
Son; and Paul to the Holy Ghost. Justly, therefore, may 
we suppose, that the glorious Being, seen by the Prophet, 
was the Lord of hosts, as existing under the ineffable three- 
fold character ol Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 

This is further confirmed by what follows in the same 
chapter. For the enraptured Prophet soon after heard 
Jehovah saying, Whom shall I send? and ivho will go for 
us ? Isa. 6. 8. Plainly expressing the same plurality in the 
nature of the Divine Being which had been celebrated in 
the song of the Cherubim and Seraphim, when they cried 
one to another, " Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts." 
This, at least, has been the opinion of many very pious and 
sensible men, and was the general sentiment of the primi- 
tive church, from which no man should lightly, and without 
the best reasons, dissent. 

Origen in particular says — They are not content to say 
holy once or twice ; but take the perfect number of the 
Trinity, thereby to declare the manifold holiness of God ; 
which is a repeated intercommunion of a threefold holiness ; 
the holiness of the Father, the holiness of the only-begot- 
ten Son, and of the Holy Ghost. — Chrysostom asks, Whose 
glory ? the Father's ? How then doth John apply it to the 
Son, and Paul to the Spirit ; not as confounding the per- 
sons, but declaring the glory to be one * ? — Jerome says, 
Who that Lord was that was seen may be fully learnt from 
John the Evangelist and the Acts of the Apostles. John 
evidently means Christ; Paul, in the Acts, says, " Well 
spake the Holy Ghost by Isaias." But the Son was seen 
in the dress of a king, and the Holy Ghost spake as being 
a partner in the glory, and one with him in substance f . 

Lowth in his Comment on the place says, that the 
Christian Church hath always thought, that the doctrine of 
the blessed Trinity was implied in this repetition. See also 
-the late Bishop Lowth on the place, where he produces the 

* In loco. t In loco. See Hurrion on the Spirit, p, 188- 

Bb 2 



372" DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. PART V, 

words of Jerome, declaring that the mystery of the Trinity 
is here denoted. — What important truths the Jewish church 
collected from this passage in Isaiah will appear from their 
Talmud, which is the best collection they have of the writ- 
ings of the Jewish Doctors upon the Old Testament. — 
Galatine has produced two expositions of this text, which 
are strictly applicable to our purpose : the one is taken from 
the illustrious R. Simeon, who has left a remarkable com- 
ment upon it: .nK n\ WMp that is Holy, this is the Father: 
.p nt ttfnp this is, Holy, this is the Son: .wnpn nn n\ »Hp 
that is, Holy, this is the Holy Spirit. — The other is from a 
Paraphrase of very considerable note for the purity of his style, 
and his many useful explanations of the prophetic language, 
Jonathan, the son of Uzziel, the Chaldee paraphrast, who 
probably lived about the time of the first publication of the 
gospel. He paraphrases upon the text just in the words of 
the old Jewish language, the two languages being greatly 
alike, if not, as some learned men have imagined, originally 
the same. For thus his version supplies the whole sense, 
which was generally put upon the prophets — .tpnp KDK 
Holy Father : .p trrnp Holy Son : tynp nn Wi-p Holy, 
Holy Ghost*. 

653. " When the Lord hath performed his whole work 
upon Jerusalem — I will punish the fruit of the stout heart/' 
Isa. 10. 12. — The Lord and / are here mentioned as though 
they were two distinct persons. 

65 f. : "And there shall come forth a rod out of the 
stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots ; 
and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,'* Isa. 1 1. 
1, 2.-— Here likewise is the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. 
Here is Jehovah, representing the Father, the Rod from 
the stem of Jesse, representing the Son, and the Spirit of 
the Lord representing the Holy Ghost. 

655. " I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall re- 
move out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, 
and in the day of his fierce anger." Isa. 13. 13. — Here 
again two persons seem to be introduced, unless we suppose 
that the person speaking is the Prophet. In that case, the 
other is the Lord of hosts. If the Prophet is not the 



* Knowles's Primitive Christianity, p, 93. 



3ECT. I. 



Testimonies of Prophecy. 



373 



speaker, it can be no other than the Father or the Son 
declaring the displeasure of the former or the latter against 
Babylon for oppressing his people. 

656. " And I will drive thee from thy station, and from 
thy state shall he pull thee down." Isa. 22. 19. This is 
nearly in the same predicament with the former. 

657* " The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our law- 
giver, the Lord is our king; he will save us." Isa, 33. 22. 
Compare this with the former numbers where there is a 
triple repetition. 

658. " Seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read — 
for my. mouth it hath commanded, and his Spirit it hath 
gathered them." Isa. 34. 16. — Two of the Divine persons^ 
the Father and the Holy Spirit, are clearly spoken of in this 
text. It is not equally clear whether the Son may not also 
be intimated. 

659. " Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or, 
being his counsellor, hath taught him }" Isa. 40. 13. — 
Here too we discover the Father and the Holy Ghost. 

660. * " Behold my servant whom / uphold ; mine 
elect, in whom my soul delighteth ; I have put my Spirit 
upon him ; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." 
Isa. 42. 1. — The Father is here the speaker, the Son is the 
elect servant, and the Holy Spirit is put upon that servant 
to qualify him for his great office. 

661. "Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and 
his Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts ; I am the first, and I 
am the last ; and beside me there is no God." Isa. 44. 6. 
— This passage may be applied both to the Father and the 
Son. Some, however, apply it wholly to the Son. Com- 
pare Revelation I. 11, if; 2. 8; 22. 13. where the cha- 
racters of first and last are by our Saviour applied to him- 
self. 

662. * " And now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath 
sent me" Isa. 48. 16. — Christ represents himself in this 
verse as being sent by the Lord God, his Father, and by his 
Spirit, the divine Paraclete. 

Chrysostom, after he had expressed his admiration that 
the Maker of heaven and earth should be sent by the Spirit, 
adds -.—-Honour the Holy Spirit whom you have received ; 

Bb3 



374 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART V. 



say often that you are well rewarded. Christ has 'taken thy 
flesh, and given thee his Spirit. This the saving law sug- 
gests, the prophets speak, the apostles declare, the martyrs 
confess, the godly believe, the church consents to, igno- 
rance opposes, the faithful are fully persuaded of, Christ is 
glorified; for his is the glory, and honour, and adoration, 
together with the Father, and the most holy and life-giving 
Spirit, now, and forever, and ages of ages. Amen *. 

663. * " For thy Maker is thine husband ; the Lord 
of hosts is his name : and thy Redeemer the Holy One of 
Israel, the God of the whole earth shall he be called." Isa. 
54. 5. — Thy Makers thy husbands, in the original. See 
Jones on the Trinity, p. 90. The Saviour seems to be de- 
nominated here, the Holy One of Israel, with a prophetic 
declaration, that he should become, in the due order of pro- 
vidence, the God of the whole earth. 

664. " Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, 
and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth— -because 
of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, 
and He shall choose thee." Isa. 49. 7- — This verse is sup- 
posed by some respectable scholars to make double men- 
tion of the three persons of the Divine Nature. 

665. * " So shall they fear the name of the Lord from 
the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun : when 
the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the 
Lord shall lift up a standard against him. And the Re- 
deemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from 
transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord." Isa, 59. 19, 20. — 
Here seems to be an intimation of all the three persons of 
the Divine Nature, as in some of the former cases. The 
Father is the speaker, the name and glory of the Lord to 
signify the Son ; at least the term Redeemer is expressive 
of the Son ; and the Spirit of the Lord is mentioned under 
his own proper personal character, as acting in the business 
of his people's deliverance from bondage. 

666/' 46 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith 
the Lord, My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words 
which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy 
mouth." Isa. 59. 21. — The Father speaks, and speaks to 



* Horn, De Spirit, Sancto, 



SECT. 1. 



Testimonies of Prophecy. 



575 



the Son, declaring that his Spirit should rest upon him and 
his people forever. 

667 * " The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me : be- 
cause the Lord hath anointed me to preach good ^o :, ^s 
unto the meek/' Isa. 61. 1. — We need only to obse:vd, 
that the Son is the speaker in this passage, and the doc- 
trine of the three Divine persons will instantly appear. 

668.* " For the Lord said, Surely they are my people, 
children that will not lie : so he was their Saviour. In ail 
their affliction he was afflicted, and the Angel of his pi e- 
sence saved them. — But they rebelled, and vexed his Holy 
Spirit, therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he 
fought against them." Isa. 63. 8 — 10. — Here is the Lord, 
which represents the Father; the Angel of his presence, 
which is the Son ; and the Holy Spirit, which was vexed 
by the disobedient conduct of the Israelites. 

66.9. " Neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, 
what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him." Isa. 
64. 4. — Two of the persons, probably the first and second 
in the Sacred Trinity, seem to be denoted in these words. 

670. " The Lord is the true God, he is the living God 
and an everlasting King." Jer. 10. 10. — Compare the for- 
mer passages where three names seem to indicate the seve- 
ral persons in the Divine Nature. 

671. "This matter is by the decree of the ivatchers, 
and the demand by the word of the holy ones : to the intent 
the living may know, that the Most High ruleth in the 
kingdom of men." Dan. 4. 17- — Consult Allix's Judgment, 
p. 153, where he attempts to shew, that the Watchers, in 
this place, signify the persons in the Godhead. 

672. " And whereas they commanded to leave the 
stump of the tree roots/' Dari. 4. 26. — The Catchers, the 
Holy ones, mentioned in a former verse. 

673. u The most high God gave to Nebuchadnezzar a 
kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour. — And they 
took his glory from him/' Dan. 5. 18, 20. — The Watchers, 
the Holy ones, before mentioned. 

674. " I beheld till the thrones were set up, and the 
ancient of days did sit." Dan. 7- 9. — The authors of the 
Talmud appear to have understood this passage as convey- 



376 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART V. 



ing an idea of plurality*. Thrones being erected seem to 
imply this. 

675. " Now, therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of 
thy servant — for the Lord's sake." Dan. .9. 17. — for the 
sake of Messiah, who was frequently distinguished, even 
among the ancient Jews by the appellation Lord. — " The 
Lord said unto my Lord " Psa. 110. 1. 

676. u O Lord, hear j O Lord, forgive; O Lord, 
hearken and do ; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God." 
Dan. 9. 19,-— This again is one of those triple repetitions, of 
which we have had several former instances. Whether 
there may be any peculiar signification in them, I under- 
take not to determine. Some have been of this opinion, 
and therefore I bring a number of such constructions into 
one view, that the reader may see and judge for himself. 
My own judgment wishes to rest the great doctrine of the 
Trinity on nothing but what is plain and solid. And 
enough of this substantial evidence is to be found in the 
sacred writings. All human explications likewise I equally 
renounce. They may be just, or otherwise. I regard them 
not. The scriptures alone are enough for me. With them 
I wish to stand or fall. 

677' " J will nave mercy upon the house of Judah, and 
will save them by the Lord their God" Hos. 1. 6. — 
Jehovah is the speaker, and he declares he will save the 
house of Judah by the Lord their God, which is evidently 
in this place the name of Messiah, the universal Saviour of 
mankind. No shuffling can honestly evade this conclusion, 
according to my apprehension. The deliverance of Heze- 
kiah and his people from the invasion of Sennacherib seems 
to have been only a type of a spiritual and much greater 
deliverance. 

678. " Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with 
the saints" Hos. 11. 12. — Faithful with the Holy ones. 

— .Damp 

679. * "I am with you saith the Lord of Hosts ; ac- 
cording to the word that I covenanted with you when ye 
came out of Egypt, so my Spirit remaineth among you; 
fear ye not. For thus saith the Lord of hosts — I will 



* See Maurice's Iud» Ant. vol.4, p. 479. 



sect. 1. Testimonies of Prophecy, 



377 



shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come : 
and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of 
hosts." Hag. 2, 5. 7. — Here we find three sacred Per- 
sons again distinctly mentioned. The first is the Lord 
of Hosts ; the second, the Divine Spirit ; and the third, 
the Desire of all nations, which* is no other than the Son 
of God. 

680. " I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the 
Lord; and many nations shall be joined to the Lord in 
that day and shall be my people • and I will dwell in the 
midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts 
hath sent me unto thee/' Zech. 2. 10, 11. — This pro- 
mise evidently has respect to gospel-times. The Father 
engages to send his Son, who should dwell in his people by 
his Spirit. 

681. And I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they 
shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord. Zech. 
10. 12. — The Lord promises to strengthen his people by the 
Lord. The latter term seems to signify the Messiah. 
The Father further declares, that believers should walk up 
and down in the name of his Son with holy joy and con- 
fidence 

682. " If 1 be a master, where is my fear?" MaL 1. 6. 
The Hebrew is, If I am masters — .D'DTK 

These are the principal passages of the Old Testament, 
which denote plurality of divine persons, more or less dis- 
tinctly. Some of them are strong and clear ; some contain 
only intimations of a doctrine more fully delivered in other 
places. A small number of them, it is not improbable, may 
contain mere imaginary allusions to the great doctrine in 
question. It will be the business of the reader to compare 
such declarations as are obscure with such as are more per- 
spicuous, and to form his own judgment, upon a conscien- 
tious investigation of the whole of revelation. And in such 
investigation, we should ever bear in mind, that the truth 
of a doctrine does not depend upon the frequency of its 
repetition in the sacred pages, but upon the simple fact, 
whether it is revealed at all. The immateriality of the 
Divine Being is fundamental in religion, but yet we do not 
find that it is more than once declared in the whole bible. 



S?8 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART V. 



If therefore the doctrine of the Sacred Three was RE- 
VEALED ONLY ONCE CLEARLY, THAT ONCE 
WOULD RE SUFFICIENT TO ESTABLISH IT AS 
A TRUTH. 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Evangelists. 379 



PART FIFTH. 



SECTION II. 



A VIEW OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY TRINITY FROM THE 
NEW TESTAMENT. 



The New Testament confirms the Old: — Displays the 
Doctrine more fully. — Proofs from the Gospel of 
Matthew.— -Valuable and interesting Testimonies of 
uninspired men. — The Doctrine of the Trinity proved: 
— From the Writings of jLuke. — The Testimony of 

John. — Apostolic Testimony. Remarkable Doxolo- 

gies from the Writings of the Christian Fathers. — 
Opinion of Novation* — Ambrose — Irenceus — Athena- 
goras, and Tertiillian. — Our inability to comprehend 
the Doctrine no reasonable excuse for not believing it. 
- — Objections answered. — The danger of infidelity. 

The writings of the Old Testament are sufficiently 
strong and clear to establish the doctrine of the Sacred 
Trinity. We have seen that the three persons of the Di- 
vine Nature occur therein, in the same verse or context, not 
less than ten times, besides the frequent mention that is 
made of each person separately. The New Testament, 
however, confirms all that had been advanced upon the sub- 
ject in the Old, and displays the doctrine still more strong- 
ly. All the intimations of the latter are confirmed by plain 



380 



DOCTRINE OF THU TRINITY. 



PART V. 



declarations in the former, as all the declarations of the 
latter too are rendered more conspicuous by the facts and 
illustrations of the former ; insomuch that the two Testa- 
ments, taken together, form one complete code of religious 
information ; sufficiently luminous to be a rule of faith and 
practice, but by no means so full and perspicuous as to 
gratify the impertinent inquiries of vain and sceptical men. 
We will proceed to the New Testament declarations in 
order, where the reader will find upwards of one hundred 
places in which the three persons of the Divine Nature 
are distinctly mentioned together, either in the same verse, 
or in the course of the context. 

6*83. " While he thought on these things, behold the 
angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying 
Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary 
thy wife : for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy 
Ghost. And she shall bring forth a so?i, and thou shalt 
call his name Jesus" Mat. 1. 20, 21.— Here we find the 
Lord, the Holy Ghost, and the Son Jesus. 

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity abounds in the sacred 
scriptures and the writings of antiquity much more than 
any person, who has not investigated the subject could 
suppose. Origen had a just notion of the importance of the 
doctrine when he said : — When I speak of the omnipotence 
of God, of his invisibility and eternity, I speak of things 
sublime : when I speak of the coeternity of his only-begot- 
ten Son, and the other mysteries which concern him, I 
speak of things sublime : when I discourse of the majesty 
of the Holy Ghost, I speak of things sublime. These alone 
afford an elevated subject of discourse. After these three 
you can speak of nothing sublime ; for all things are low 
and abject, when compared to the glorious height of this 
Trinity. Cease, therefore, to speak in elevated strains, un- 
less when you discourse of the Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Ghost. 

684. " God is able of these stones to raise up children 

unto Abraham 1 indeed baptize you with water — but 

he that cometh after me— shall baptize you with the Holy 
Ghost, and with fire." Mat. 3. 9, 11.— Here again we 
have God, the Messiah, and the Holy Ghost. 

* In Reges lib, 1. 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Evangelists, 381 

6S5. " And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up 
straightway out of the water, and lo, the heavens were 
opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descend- 
ing like a dove, and lighting upon him : and lo, a voice 
from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I 
am well-pleased." Mat. 3. 16, 17. — This is sufficiently 
plain and contains a sensible demonstration of the doctrine 
of the sacred Trinity. 

It was convenient, says the learned Lightfoot, that the 
Holy Ghost should reveal himself at this time ; — First, for 
the sake of John, who was to have a sensible sign, whereby 
to inform him, which was the Messias, as John L. 

Secondly, In regard to the Holy Ghost himself, whose 
work in the church was now in a more special and frequent 
manner to be shewed under the gospel, namely, that he 
might be expressed and revealed to be a personal substance, 
and not an operation of the Godhead only: or qualitative 
virtue. For qualities, operations, and acts, cannot assume 
bodily shapes, nor ought but what is in itself substantial. 

Thirdly, That a full and clear, yea, even a sensible de- 
monstration of the Trinity might be made at this beginning 
of the gospel. For it may be observed in scripture, that 
the Holy Ghost hath a special regard to express this mystery 
upon singular occasions, that we might learn to acknow- 
ledge the three persons in one Godhead, as he also doth the 
two natures of Christ, that we might acknowledge them in 
one person. So the very first thing that is taught in all 
the bible, is this very mystery. For when Moses beginneth 
the story of the creation, he beginneth also to teach, that 
the three persons in the Trinity were co-workers in it. God 
created, there is the Father. God said, there is the Word, 
or the Son. And the Spirit of God moved, there is the 
Holy Ghost. And the very same mystery is intimated by 
the prophet, treating upon the very same subject. Isa. 
42. 5. Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the hea- 
vens, and they that stretched them out : that we might 
Jearn, that of him, through him, and to him, the Father, 
'Son, and Holy Ghost, are all things, Rom. 11.36, So 
Moses also, when he is to teach concerning the creation 
of man, he first teacheth, that it was the Trinity that 
created him. Gen. I. 26. And God said, Let us make 



382 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART V. 



man after our image. He saith, Let us, to show the 
trinity of persons ; and he saith, In our image, not in our 
images, to show the unity of essence ; that every man, even 
from the reading of the story of his creation may learn to re- 
member his CREATORS in the days of his youth, as Solo- 
mon with the word "JWQ, answereth the same mystery. — 
Ec. 12. 1. 

So likewise at the confusion of tongues the Trinity is 
expressed. Gen. 11.7- Let us go down and confound 
their language : as it is also at the gift of tongues, I ivill 
send the Comforter from the Father. John 15. 26. Acts 
1. 4. Such a one also was the blessing pronounced by the 
priest upon the people, when he dismissed them from the 
daily service of the temple, in the name of the Trinity, 
Num. 6. 24 — 26, the name Jehovah, or the Lord, three 
times repeated, for denotation of the three persons, as Paul 
explaineth it, 2 Cor. 13. 14. When Moses also beginneth 
to rehearse the law to Israel, and to explain it, the first thing 
he teacheth them is the Trinity in Unity, and Unity in Tri- 
nity, Deut. 6. 4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord, our God, 
the Lord is one. Three words answering the three persons, 
and the middle word our God, decyphering fitly the second, 
who assumed our nature, as is well observed by Galatinus. 
To these may be added, the entrance of Moses' revelation 
with the name of the Lord, three times rehearsed, Ex. 34. 
6. The vision of Isaiah with three holies, Isa. 6. 3. The 
beginning of Ps. 50, and of Ps. 136, and many of the like 
nature, which the heedful reader will observe himself. How 
fitting then was it, that at the beginning of the new world, 
and the new law, and the baptism of Christ, the three per- 
sons should be revealed, especially since he ordained bap- 
tism to be administered in their names ; baptize them in 
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost. Mat. 28. 19*. 

Augustine says : — The Trinity most manifestly appeared; 
the Father by a voice ; the Son in the form of a man ; the 
Holy Spirit under the figure of a dove f. 

Jerome too hath it — The mystery of the Trinity is de- 
monstrated in baptism : the Spirit descends in the form of 



* Works, vol. 1, p. 483, 484. t In Evang. Joh, tract. 6. 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Evangelists. 383 

a dove ; the voice of the Father is heard bearing witness to 
the Son. 

686. " It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your 
Father which speaketh in you/' Mat. 10. 20. — Be it ob- 
served here, that the Son of God is the speaker. 

687. " If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the 
kingdom of God is come unto you." Mat. L2. 28. Here 
too Christ is the speaker. 

688. " All power is given unto me in heaven and in 
earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing 
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy Ghost." Mat. 28. 19. This passage is extremely 
important. By being baptized in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, we are dedicated to 
the worship and service of the sacred three. That this was 
the sentiment of the primitive church will appear from an 
induction of particulars. 

1. Justin Martyr says : — God and his only begotten 
Son, together with the Spirit, who spake by the prophets, 
we worship and adore*. In another part of the same apo- 
logy he tells the Emperor, that when any person was ad- 
mitted a member of the Christian society, he was baptized 
in the name of God the Father and Lord of all, and in the 
name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius 
Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Ghost, who spake by 
the prophets, and foretold every thing concerning Christf. 

2. Irenseus speaks largely concerning the Sacred Three, 
and quotes this form of baptism in the very words, Go teach 
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Gkost%. In another place he 
says, There is one God the Father, who is above all, and 
through all, and in all. The Father indeed is above all, 
and he is the head of Christ. The Word is through all, 
and he is the head of the church. The Holy Spirit is in us 
all §. Again to the same purpose: — The Father has ever 
with him his Word and Wisdom, his Son and Spirit ; by 
whom, and in whom, he made all things freely ||. And 
lastly : — The God of all stands in need of nothing ; but by 
his own Word and Spirit, he makes, orders, governs, and 
gives being to all things/' ^[ 

* Apol. 1. p. 56. t Ibid. p. 94. t L. 3, -~ 19. $ \. 5, «. 18, 

I L. 4. c, 20. f L. l. c, 19, 



384 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART V. 



3. Tertullian frequently speaks of these three divine 
persons, and alludes on some occasions to this institution of 
baptism by our Lord. In the following words he makes the 
three persons of the Divine Nature equally the object of our 
faith and hope, the witness of our belief, and the surety of 
our salvation : Our faith, says he, is ratified by the Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit. Through the benediction we have 
them as the witnesses of our belief, and the sureties of our 
salvation. By the Three both the witnessing of our faith 
and the covenant of our salvation are pledged *. Again he 
says : — The Father is God, and the Son is God, and the 
Holy Ghost is God, and every one is God f. Again : — The' 
three persons are of one substance, and of one state, and of 
one power, because they are one God J. And again : — The 
Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost, are of one divinity §. 

4. Cyprian says, Christ himself commands the nations 
to be baptized in the full and united Trinity ||. Again :— 
Christ here signifies the Trinity, into a covenant with which 
the nations should be baptized And again : — He that is 
baptized may obtain grace by calling upon the Trinity, even 
upon the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost **« Firmilianus too calls baptism a symbol of 
the Trinity ff. 

5. Athenagoras is equally satisfactory. In answer to a 
charge of atheism he says : — Who would not be astonished 
to hear us called atheists, who acknowledge the Father as 
God, and the Son God, and the Holy Ghost, asserting their 
union of power, and distinction of order ? Again to the 
same purpose : — The Son of God is the Word of the Fa- 
ther, in power and energy. By him, and through him, were 
all things created : for the Father and Son. are one. The 
Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father, by the 
unity and power of the Holy Ghost. For the Son of God 
is the Wisdom and Word of God. 

I add the words of a great and pious Modern :— If the 
holy scripture teacheth us plainly, and frequently doth incul- 
cate upon us, that there is but one true God ; if it as mani- 

* De Baptism, c. 6. t Contr. Prax. c- 13. % Ibid, c, 2, 
§ Id. de Pud, c. 21. || Epist. 73. IT Ibid. 
* Epist. 75. ft Ibid. 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Evangelists. 



385 



festly doth ascribe to the three Persons of the blessed Tri- 
nity the same august names, the same peculiar characters, 
the same divine attributes, the same superlatively admirable 
operations of Creation and Providence ; if it also doth pre- 
scribe to them the same supreme honours, services, praises, 
and acknowledgments, to be paid unto them all ; this may 
be abundantly enough to satisfv our minds, to stop our 
mouths, to smother all doubt and dispute about this high 
and holy mystery". 

Richard Baxter also, who was a man of the most con- 
summate abilities, says, I unfeigned ly account the doctrine 
of the Trinity, the very sum and kernel of the Christian reli- 
gion, as expressed in our baptism. — The doctrine is neither 
contradictory, incredible, nor unlikely f. 

Lightfoot says — Among the Jews the controversy was 
about the true Messiah, among the Gentiles about the true 
God : it was therefore proper among the Jews to baptize in 
the name of Jesus, that he nJght be vindicated to be the 
true Messiah ; among the Gentiles in the name of the Fa- 
ther, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, that they 
might be thereby instructed in the doctrine of the true 
God %. 

6. Origen speaks to the same purpose upon many occa- 
sions : — He who makes a good confession, says hc ; ascribes 
to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, each their respective pe- 
culiars, but will nevertheless confess that there is no diver- 
sity of nature or of substance §. Again : — When we come 
to the grace of baptism, renouncing all other gods and lords, 
we confess one God alone, the Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Ghost || . Again :— We believe the faith of Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost, in which all believe who are joined 
to the church of God If. Again : — We who worship and 
adore no creature, but Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as we 
err not in our worship, so neither indeed do we transgress 
in our actions and conversation**. And again In short, 

* Dr. Barrow's Defence of the Trinity, p. 61, 62, t See his Works, 
vol, 2, p. 132. t Works, vol. 2, p. i ; 75, and p. 1130. § In Epist. 
ad Rom. cap. 10, lib. 8, p, 479. || Horn. 8, in Exod. 20, p. 8€- 
IT Horn. 5, is Levit. p, 126. ** Lib. 1, cap- 1, in Rom, p. 338- 



386 



DOCTRINE OP THE TRINITY. 



PART V. 



it is an impious crime, we may say, to worship any other 
besides Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit *. 

7. Hippolytus, who was contemporary with Tertullian, 
quoter> this very form of baptism, and reasons upon it in 
the manner following : — If the Word was with God, himself 
being God, some perhaps may object, What, does the 
Apostle then make two Gods ? No, I will not say two 
Gccls, but one, yet two persons ; for the Father indeed is 
one, but the persons two, because of the Son ; and the third 
is the Holy Ghost. The administration of their harmony 
leads to one God, for God is one. The Father above all, 
the Son through all, the Holy Ghost in all. We can no 
otherwise consider God as one, but as believing truly in the 

ther, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The Word of 
the Father knowing the administration, and that it was the 
wilt of the Father to be thus honoured, and not otherwise, 
gave his disciples orders, after his resurrection, to this pur- 
pose : Go teach all nations, baptizing them in the name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; 
signifying, that whosoever should leave out any one of the 
three, should come so far short of honouring God perfectly : 
for by this Trinity the Father Ts glorified. The Father 
willed, the Son executed, the Spirit manifested." f 

8. Jerome speaks of baptism in the same manner 
Baptism, says he, is one ; for in the same manner we are 
baptized into the Father, and into the Son, and into the 
Holy Ghost ; and are dipped three times, that the sacrament 
of the Trinity might appear one. And we are not baptized 
in the names of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost, but into the one name of God {„ 

9. Augustine reasons thus upon the form of baptism : — 
He is one God, because we are baptized not in the names 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 
Where you hear one name, there God is one : as it is 
spoken of the seed of Abraham, and the apostle Paul ex- 
pounds it, In thy seed shall all the nations he blessed* 
He speaketh not of seeds as of many, but as of one, and 
in thy seedy which is Christ. So, therefore, because he 
speaketh not there of seeds-, the Apostle wis!ies to teach us 

* Ibid, p. 336. t Cont, Noet. c. 14, p. 21. J Com. ia 
Eph, c, 4v 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Evangelists. 3S7 

that Christ is one. So likewise here when it is said in the 
name, not in the names, in like manner as there in the seed, 
not in the seeds, it is proved that God is one, Father, and 
Son, and Holy Ghost *. 

689. " HE shall be great in the sight of the Lord — 
and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost — and many of 
the children of Israel shall he turn unto the Lord their 
God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power 
of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, — 
to make ready a people prepared for the I^ord" Luke 1. 
15 — 17. The most inattentive reader cannot fail of disco- 
vering the three persons of the Divine Nature in this and 
many of the following quotations of holy scripture, without 
any observation being made upon them to that purpose. 

The honourable Duncan Forbes observes, that when we 
have well considered the language of the Old Testament^ 
concerning the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, our surprise 
will cease at the freedom and easiness, with which Christ 
and his Apostles speak of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 
as distinct persons of the Deity, as a thing well known and 
understood, without any preamble or apology ; whereas, if 
this had not been a notion commonly received by the intelli- 
gent, it is impossible that the preacher of salvation could 
have made use of, or applied it, without having first ex- 
plained it, and so prepared the hearers for it f . 

690 * " The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the 
power of the Highest shall overshadow thee : therefore 
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be 
called the Son of God." Luke 1. 35. 

691. * " His father Zacharias was filled with the Holy 
Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of 
Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath 
raised up an Horn of salvation for us in the house of his 
servant David." Luke 1. 67 — 69. 

692. " It was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, 
that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's 
Christ" Luke 2. 26. 

693. " He came by the Sj>irit into the temple. And 
when the parents brought in the child Jesus — then took he 
him up in his arms, and blessed God" Luke 2. 27, 28. 

* Tract, in Evang. Joh, 6. t Thoughts concerning Religion, p. 153. 

C C 2 



S88 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART V, 



694. " And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape 
like a dove upon him, and a voice came ftom heaven, which 
said, Thou art my beloved Son ; in thee I am well pleased." 
Luke 3. 22. 

695. " The spirit of the Lord is upon me." Luke 
4. 18, the speaker is the Messiah. 

696. " How much more shall your heavenly Father 
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." Luke 11. 13. 
Christ is the speaker. 

697. " Behold, / send the Promise of my Father upon 
you." Luke 24. 49.— -Here Jesus Christ undertakes to 
send the Holy Ghost to comfort and instruct his disciples^ 
which the Father had before promised. 

698. " Upon whom thou shalt see the spirit descending 
and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with 
the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record, that this is 
the Son of God." John 1. 33, 34. 

699. £e Except a man be born of water and of the 
spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." John 
3. 5. 

700. " He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of 
God; for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him." 
John 3. 34. This is the testimony of John the Baptist to 
the Holy Trinity. 

701. " I will pray the Father, and he shall give you 
another Comforter. 31 John 14. 16. 

702. u He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, 
and I will manifest myself to him," (by my Spirit.) John 

14. 21. 

703. "The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom 
the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all 
things." John 14. 26. 

704. " When the Comforter is come, whom I will send 
unto you from the Father, even the spirit of truth, which 
proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." John 

15. 26. 

705. " As my Father hath sent me, even so send I 
you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, 
and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost" John 
20.21.22, 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Apostles. 389 

706. " Wait for the Promise of the Father, which ye 
have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; 
but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many 
days hence." Acts 1. 4, 5. 

707. " It is not for you to know the times or the sea- 
sons, which the Father hath put in his own power : but ye 
shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon 
you." Acts 1. 7, 8. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the speaker 
in each of these seven last testimonies to the doctrine of the 
Trinity. 

708. " This Jesus hath God raised up. — Therefore being 
by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of 
the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed 
forth this." Acts 2. 32, 33. 

709. " Repent and be baptized every one of you in the 
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall 
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is 
unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, 
even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Acts 2. 
38, 39. 

710. " Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said, — 
by the name of Jesus Christ — w hom God raised from the 
dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you 
whole." Acts 4. 8—10. 

711. "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and 
they spake the word of God with boldness. — And with great 
power gave the Apostles witness of the resurrection of the 
Lord Jesus." Acts 4. 31, 33. 

712. " The God of our fathers raised up Jesus — and 
we are witness of these things, and so is the Holy Ghost" 
Acts 5. 30, 32. 

713. w Stephen being full of the Holy Ghost — saw the 
glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God." 
Acts 7- 55. 

714. "When the Apostles which were at Jerusalem 
heard that Samaria had received the w 7 ord of God, they sent 
unto them Peter and John : who, when they were come 
down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy 
Ghost. For as yet he was fallen upon none of them : only 
they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus" Acts 
8, 14— -16o 

c c 3 



390 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART V. 



715. "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God — 
and the spirit of the Lord caught away Philip." Acts 8. 
37, 39. 

716". " God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy 
Ghost and with power/' Acts 10. 38. 

717. " He — Jesus — who was ordained of God to be 
the judge of quick and dead. — While Peter yet spake these 
words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the 
word." Acts 10. 42, 44. 

7 18. " Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how 
that he said, John indeed baptized with water ; but ye shall 
be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as God 
gave them the like gift as he did unto us who believed on 
the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand 
God?" Acts 11. 16, 17. 

719. " When — he had seen the grace of God, — he ex- 
horted them to cleave unto the Lord : for he was a good 
man, and full of the Holy Ghost." Acts 1 1. 23, 24. 

720. " And God — bare them witness, giving them the 
Holy Ghost. — But we believe, that through the grace of 
the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they." 
Acts 15. 8, 11. 

72!.. " 1 have not shuned to declare unto you all the 
counsel of God. Take heed therefore — to all the flock over 
the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed 
the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own 
blood." Acts 20. 27, 28. 

722. "To ~whom he expounded and testified the king- 
dom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus. — And 
when they agreed not— they departed, after that Paul had 
spoken one word, W ell spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the 
Prophet." Acts 28. 23, 25. 

723. " Declared to be the Son of God with power ; ac- 
cording to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from 
the dead." Rom. 1. 4. 

724. "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by 
the Holy Ghost which is given unto us : — For Christ died 
for the ungodly." Rom. 5. 5, 6. 

725. " God sending his own Son — who walk not after 
the flesh, but after the spirit" Rom. 8. 3, 4. 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Apostles. 



391 



726. t£ Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so he 
the spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not 
the spirit of Christ he is none of his." Rom. 8. 9. 

727. " If the spirit of him that raised up Jems from 
the dead dwell in you." Rom. 8. 11. 

728. "He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also 
quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in 
you." Rom. 8. 11. 

729. " The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, 
that we are the children of God: and if children then 
heirs ? heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." Rom. 
8. 16, 17. 

730. " For of him, and through him, and to him are 
all things : to whom be glory forever." Rom. 11. 36. — 
This has frequently been understood of the Sacred Three. 
When all things are done, saith Athanasius, by God through 
Christ in the Holy Spirit; I see the undivided operation of 
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit ; yet do I not 
therefore so confound together, him " by whom, and hirfc 
through whom, and him in whom," all is wrought ; as to 
be forced to run the three persons into one. Contra Sabel- 
lianos. — In another place he says : — There is but one sort of 
Divinity, which is also in the Word ; and one God, which 
is the Father; existing of himself, as being oner all; and 
manifesting himself in the Son, as being through all; and 
in the Spirit, as ivorking in all, through the Word and by 
the Spirit." Orat. 3. cont. Arianos. — Dr. Berriraan, speak- 
ing of this doxology, says, — To the one supreme God, sub- 
sisting in a trinity of persons, be glory ; of him, referring to 
the Father, through him, referring to the Son, and to hit. , 
or in him, pointing out the Holy Ghost. Basil, Ambrose, 
and Augustine, understood the passage in the same manner. 
See Hurrion on the Spirit, p. 190. 

731. " For the kingdom of God is — righteousness, and 
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost: for he that in these 
things serveth Christ is acceptable to God " Rom. 14. 
17, 18. 

732. " Now the God of patience and consolation grant 
you to be like-minded one toward another, according to 
Christ Jesus, that ye may with one mind and one mouth 
glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ' 1 



392 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART V. 



Rom. 15. 5, 6. — The God of patience and consolation is 
here spoken of as a person distinct from the Father, and 
from Christ Jesus ; and so it is best understood to be God 
the Holy Ghost, who is the author of the Christian's pati- 
ence and peace of mind. 

733. " There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall 
rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles 
trust. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace 
in believing, that ye may abound in hope through the 
power of the Holy Ghost." Rom. 15. 12, 13. 

734. " The minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, 
ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the 
Ge utiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy 
Ghost." Rom. 15. 16. 

735. " I will not dare to speak of any of those things 
which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles 
obedient by word and deed, through mighty signs and 
wonders, by the power of the spirit of God" Rom. 15. 
18, 19. 

736. " Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord 
Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the spirit, that ye 
strive together with me in your prayers to God for me." 
Rom. 15, 30. 

737. " I determined not to know any thing among you 
save Jesus Christ — and my — preaching was — in demonstra- 
tion of the spirit and of power: that your faith should not 
stand in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God." 
1 Cor. 2. 2, 4, 5. 

738. " Had they known it they would not have crucified 
the Lord of glory — but God hath revealed them unto us by 
his spirit" 1 Cor. 2. 8, 10. 

739. " The natural man receiveth not the things of the 
spirit of God. — For who hath knowr: the mind of the Lord, 
that he may instruct him ? But we have the mind of 
Christ." 1 Cor. 2. 14, 16. 

740. e( But ye are justified in the name of the Lord 
Jesus and by the spirit of our God." 3 Cor. 6, 11. 

741. " Know ye not that your bodies are the members 
of Christ f— Know ye not that your body is the temple of 
the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, 
and ye are not your own ?" 1 Cor. 6. 15, 19. 



sect. 2. lestimomes of the Apostles. 393 

742. " Only in the Lord. But she is happier if she so 
abide afteiyny judgment. And I think also that I have the 
Spirit of God. 1 Cor. 7. 39, 40. 

743. " No man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth 
Jesus accursed/' 1 Cor. 12. 3. 

744. " There are diversities of gifts, in the same Spirit. 
And there are differences of administrations, but the same 
Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the 
same God which worketh all in all." 1 Cor. 12. 4 — 6. 

745. 66 Now he who establisheth us with you in Christ 
— is God ; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest 
of the spirit in our hearts." 2 Cor. 1.21, 22. 

7- 6. 44 Ye are manifestly declared to be the epktle of 
Christ ministered by us, written — with the spirit of the 
living God." 2 Cor. 3. 3. 

747. " When it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall 
be taken away. Now the Lord is that spirit : and where 
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 2 Cor. 3. 
16, 17. 

748. " Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lwd, 
are changed into the same image — even as by the Spirit 
of the Lord." 2 Cor. 3. 18. 

749. " God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of 
the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing 
that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from 
the Lord:' 2 Cor. 5. 5,6. 

750. " What concord hath Christ with Belial ? — Ye 
are the temple of the living God : As God hath said, I 
will dwell in them, and walk in them" — by my Spirit. 2 Cor. 
6. 15, 16. 

751. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the 
love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with 
you all. Amen." 2 Cor. 13. 14. 

Having produced the sentiments of the Christian fathers 
pretty much at large on the institution of baptism in the 
twenty-eighth chapter of Matthew's gospel, I will here add 
some of the most remarkable doxologies, which we find in 
their writings, to the three persons of the Godhead, reserving 
the sentiments of the Fathers to be considered at greater 
length in the seventh part of these Disquisitions. 

1 , Polycarp, when he came to suffer, made an address 



394 



DOCTRINE OP THE TRINITY. PART V. 



to God, which he thus concluded: — To thee, with him 
(Christ) and thy Holy Spirit, be glory now and through 
everlasting ages. — 2. The church of Smyrna, writing an 
epistle to give an account of Polycarp's martyrdom, close 
their letter with these words : — With whom (Christ) be 
glory to God, even the Father, and the Holy Spirit. — 3. 
Justin Martyr tells us that the Christians of his time wor- 
shipped and adored the Father, Son, and prophetic Spirit. — 
4. Clement of Alexandria says : — Let us give praise to the 
only Father and Son, with the Holy Spirit ; to whom be 
glory now and forever. Amen #. — 5. Hippolytus has this 
doxology : — To him (Christ) be glory and strength, together 
with the Father and the Holy Spirit, in the holy church, now 
and forever, and forevermore. Amenf. — 6. Dionysius 
Alexandrinus in the same age has this doxology : — To God 
the Father, and his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ with the 
Holy Ghost, be glory and power forever and ever. Amen J. 
—7. Chrysostom in the next age says : — For his (Christ's) 
is the glory and honour, and adoration, together with the 
Father, and the most holy, and good, and quickening 
Spirit, now and forever and ever. Amen §. — 8. To the 
same purpose in another place he says — To thee (Christ) 
belongs glory, honour, and adoration ; and by thee to thy 
Father, in the Holy Spirit, world without end ||. 

752. ee God sent forth his So?i made-of a woman* Gal. 
4 e 4.— by the energy of the Holy Ghost" 

753. " Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the 
spirit of his Son into your hearts." Gal. 4. 6. 

754. " That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the 
Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom 
and revelation." Eph. 1. 17* 

755. <c Through him we both have access by one spirit 
unto the Father" Eph. 2. 18. — That there is a real, and 
not only a nominal distinction between the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Spirit j that they are frequently spoken of in 
the holy scriptures in such terms as we ordinarily use when 
we speak of three persons ; that, although the Son be often 
spoken of as really and truly a man, yet many things are 
said to him, which cannot agree to a mere man, or to any 

* Pffidag. 1, 3. t Cont. Noet- t Apud. Basil de Sp. 

Sanct. c.29. § Horn, de Spirit, Sanct. || Horn. 18. in 2 Cor. 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Apostles. 



395 



created being whatsoever ; and that there are such things 
also spoken of the Holy Ghost, as cannot he accommodated 
unto a creature : moreover, that the Son derives his being 
from, and always depends upon the Father, as the Holy 
Ghost does from and upon the Father and the Son : all 
these things, are not to be denied by any one, who will but 
interpret the holy scriptures according to the ordinary sense 
and signification of the words thereof, and not according to 
his own prejudices or pre-conceived opinions *. 

756. " An holy temple in the Lord ; in whom ye also 
are buildied together for an habitation of God through the 
Spirit." Eph. 2. 22. 

757. "I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ — that he would grant you to be strengthened 
with might by his spirit in the inner man." Eph. 3. 14, 16'. 

758. " Unto him that is able to do exceeding abun- 
dantly, above all that we ask or think, according to the 
poiver that worketh in us : unto him be glory in the Church 
by Christ Jesus." Eph. 3. 20,21. — The power that work- 
eth in us is unquestionably the power of the Holy Ghost. 

759. " There is — one Spirit — one Lord — one God and 
Father of all." Eph. 4. 4 — 6.-— One God and Father of all, 
who is above all, and through ail, and in you all. Eph. 4. 6. 
This is applied by Irenseus in the manner following : — The 
Father is over all, and he is the head of Christ ; the Word 
is through all, and he is the head of the church : and the 
Spirit is in us all. Lib. 2. c. 20. 

760. " Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God — and be 
kind — forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake 
hath forgiven you. Eph. 4. 30, 32. 

761. "Be filled with the Spirit — giving thanks — unto 
God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" 
Eph. 5. 18, 20. 

762. u The acknowledgment of the mystery of God, 
and of the Father, and of Christ." Col. 2. 2. — It seems, 
that the Holy Spirit is put first in this passage, and is called 
God without any epithet whatever. If this is denied, which 
no man can do with any proper evidence to the contrary, 
it will follow, that the Father and Christ, at least, are 



* Gentleman's Religion, p. 2. p. 26. 



396 DOCTRINE OP THE TRINITY. PART V. 

equally partakers of the God-head. See Browne's Dis- 
course on the Trinity, p. 30,31. And for some judicious 
observations on the word mystery, see the same work, chap. 

1 and 2. If the last meaning is thought to be the true one, 
it will be in the spirit of those words of Novatian : — The 
Father is declared to be the one true and eternal God, from 
whom alone this Divinity being derived and communicated 
to the Son is returned to the Father by a communion of 
substance/' De Trinit. cap. 31. 

763. " This is the will of God in Christ Jesus concern- 
ing you. Quench not the spirit" Col. 5. 18, 19. 

764. " We are bound to give thanks alway to God for 
you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from 
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification 
of the spirit and belief of the truth. Whereunto he called 
you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord 
Jesus Christ." 2Thes. 2. 13. 

765. " The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, 
and into the patient waiting for Christ" 2 Thes. 3. 5. — 
The object of prayer in this passage is the Lord, the Spirit, 
in express distinction from God the Father, and from Christ; 
for the Apostle prays to this Lord to direct their hearts 
into the love of God, which is the peculiar office of the 
Holy Ghost ; and also to cause them patiently to wait for 
Christ, which likewise is the work of the Spirit. The Spirit, 
therefore, is that Lord to whom he prayed. 

Ambrose says, Let it be shewed what Lord it is that di- 
rects into the love of God, and patient waiting for Christ, if we 
deny the direction of the Holy Spirit. De Spiritu Sancto, 
lib. 3. c. 15. — By Lord here understand the Spirit, says 
Theophylact upon the place. And the great Basil explains 
the text in the same manner. 

766. " Now God himself, and our Father, and our 
Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you." Col. 3. 11. 

767- " The Lord make you to encrease and abound in 
love one towards another, to the end he may establish your 
hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, 
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Col. 3. 12, 13. 

768. " God hath not given us the spirit of fear: — -Be 
not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord" 

2 Tim. I. 1, Bo 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Apostles. 39? 

769. " But after that the kindness and love of God our 
Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness 
which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved 
us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the 
Holy Ghost j which he shed on us abundantly through 
Jesus Christ our Saviour." Tit. 3. 4 — 6. 

770. " Which at the first began to be spoken by the 
Lord, and was confirmed to us by them that heard him ; 
God also bearing them witness, — with divers miracles and 
gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will." Heb. 
2. 3, 4. 

77 1 . " How much more shall the blood of Christ, who 
through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to 
God }" Heb. 9. 14. 

77'2. " Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the 
Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience, 
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." 1 Pet. 1. 2. 

The Constantinopolitan Fathers, in their Sydonical Epis- 
tle, written A. D. 382, speak in language conformable to 
these several representations of the three persons of the 
Divine Nature : — We maintain, say they, the most ancient 
faith, conformable to our baptism, and teaching us to believe 
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and Holy Ghost : 
so that whilst we believe the one Deity, power, and essence 
of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, together with the 
equal dignity, and co-eternal majesty in three perfect per- 
sons ; there is no room for the contagion of Sabellius, Eu- 
nomians, Arians, &c. * 

773. " The precious blood of Christ — who verily was 
foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was 
manifest in these last times for you; who by him do believe 
in God — seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the 
truth through the Spirit:' I Pet. 1. 19, 21, 22. 

774. " Ch?ist also hath once suffered for sins — that he 
might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but 
quickened by the Spirit." 1 Pet. 3. IS. 

775. " If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy 
are ye ; for the Spirit of glory, and of God resteth upon 
you/' 1 Pet. 4. 14. 



* See Theodorit. Ec. Hist, lib. 5, cap. 9- 



398 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART V. 



776. " The power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
— For he received from God the Father honour and glory. — 
Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost." 2 Pet. 1. 16, 17, 21. 

777- " Hereby know we the Spirit of God : Every 
spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh 
is of God" 1 John 4. 2. 

778. " Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in 
us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have 
seen and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the 
Saviour of the world." 1 John 4. 13. 14. 

779. " He that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God : — 
And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit 
is truth." 1 John 5. 5, 6. 

780. "There are three that bear record in heaven; the 
Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost ; and these three 
are one." 1 John 5. 7. 

Whether this passage be spurious or otherwise, the sen- 
timent conveyed in it is extremely common in the writings 
of the Fathers. Irenseus says, — He who was adored by the 
Prophets as the living God, he is the God of the living : 
and his Word who spake to Moses, &c. — Christ, therefore, 
with the Father, is the God of the living, who spake to 
Moses, &c. — One and the same God the Father, and his 
Word, always assisting to mankind, &c. — He that made all 
things, is, with his Word, justly called the only God and 
Lord. — He made the world by his Word, and by his Wis- 
dom. Athenagoras says, — We are not atheists, inasmuch 
as we believe the Creator of all things, and his Word, to be 
God. Who can but wonder to hear us charged with athe- 
ism, who declare there is God the Father, and God the 
Son, and the Holy Ghost ? Tertullian says, — It is mere 
Judaism to believe in one God, in such a sense, as not to 
include the Son, and after the Son, the Spirit. And a little 
after he adds, The three together make one God. See Dr. 
Fiddes's Theologia Speculative, vol. 1. p. 386 — 396, for 
these and other quotations from the Fathers. Turn back 
also to the third part of this Plea, No. 310, page 293, 
where the subject of this note is considered more at large. 
See likewise part the fourth, No. 601, page 343/ 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Apostles. 



399 



781. "Praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in 
the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus- 
Christ unto eternal life." Jude 20. 21*. 

782. " Grace unto you and peace from him which is, 
and which was, and which is to come ; and from the Seven 
Spirits which are before his throne ; and from Jesus Christ" 
Rev. 1. 4, 5. 

783. " I John — was in the Isle that is called Patmos for 
the word of God ; and for the testimony of Jesus Christ, 
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." Rev. 1. 9, 10. 

784. "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the 
Spirit saith unto the churches : To him that overcometh 
will i" give to eat of the tree of life 3 which is in the midst 
of the paradise ot God." Rev. 2. 7* 

785. " Even as /received of my Father, He that hath 
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." 
Rev. 2. 27, 29. 

786. "I will confess his name before my Father. He 
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto 
the churches/' Rev. 3. 5, 6. 

787. u Him that overcometh will / make a pillar in the 
temple of my God — and / will write upon him the name of 
my God, and the name of the city of my God. — He that 
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the 
churches." Rev. 3. 12, 13. 

788. " To him that overcometh will / grant to sit with 
me in my throne, even as / also overcame, and am set 
down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, 
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." 
Rev. 3. 21, 22. 

789. " And the four beasts — rest not day and night, 
saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty ; which was, 
and is, and is to come." Rev. 4. 8. 

790. " In the midst of the elders stood a Lamb, as it had 
been slain — having seven eyes, which are the Seven Spirits 
of God, sent forth into all the eerth. Rev. 5. 6. 

791. " Here are they that keep the commandments of 
God, and the faith of Jesus. — Blessed are the dead which 

m See Howe's Calm and Sober Inquiry concerning the Possibility ©f 
a Trinity in the Godhead, p. 135. 



340 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART V. 



die in the Lord — Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest 
from their labours*" Rev. 14. 12, 13. 

792. " I Jesus have sent mine angel — And the Spirit 
and the bride say, Come. — If any man shall add unto these 
things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are 
written in this book." Rev. 22. 16 — 18. 

Now all these things, concerning the persons of the 
Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the Undivided Trinity, 
are written in the scripture for our edification. The bible 
is given by inspiration of God, and is " profitable for doc- 
trine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righ- 
teousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly 
furnished unto all good works." 

If then the bible is given by divine inspiration ; if it 
contains all thing necessary to be known, believed, and done, 
to the attainment of everlasting salvation : and if, among 
other important matters, it reveals the doctrine of a plurality 
of persons in the Divine Essence ; we are bound to receive 
the doctrine, not because we fully comprehend it, and can 
account for the mode of its existence, but simply upon the 
credit and veracity of the Revealer. Its incomprehensible 
nature can be no reasonable objection to our belief. There 
are a thousand things in the natural world that are also far 
above our reach, which we constantly profess to believe, and 
to which we are obliged to submit our understandings, or 
else act infinitely more absurdly, by running into universal 
scepticism. If any man, indeed, can demonstrate the real 
absurdity, or the impossibility, of the doctrine, then, but not 
till then, it must be given up. Till then, what we believe of 
the glory of the Father, the same we believe of the glory of 
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, without any difference or 
inequality, except that the Father is the fountain of the 
Godhead. 

We believe this, as a matter of fact revealed in the 
scriptures. But as to the manner in which they are united, 
or exist, we believe nothing ; we confess our ignorance, and 
readily declare, that we know nothing concerning it. So 
with respect to the existence of our own souls, what they 
are, where they reside, and how they are united to the body, 
we know nothing certain. It is all mere conjecture. Yet 
we have sensible demonstration, that they do exist, and are 



sect. 2. Remarks on Scripture Testimony. 401 



in an inexplicable manner united to these curious clay ma- 
chines; which we call the body. This we do not deny. 
Nobody is charged with weakness and credulity in believing 
it : and yet, with respect to its mode or manner of existing 
and acting, we know just nothing at all. In like manner, 
with regard to the one living and true God, the belief of 
whose existence lies at the bottom of all religion, natural 
and revealed, we take the fact for granted, upon the princi- 
ples of reason as well as revelation ; but what do we know 
of his essence, or what do we comprehend of his perfections ? 
We say, he is a spirit. Yet what a spirit is, we are not 
able to express, but by negative terms. His eternity, im- 
mensity, omniscience, omnipotence, are all equally out of 
the reach of our highest powers. Such, however, is the 
necessity of these attributes to our idea of a Supreme Being, 
that we are obliged to admit them all, though we are utterly 
incapable of comprehending any one of them. And then, 
as to the existence of a Being without beginning, a Cause 
uncaused, we know that the supposition involves an apparent 
absurdity, and yet this absurdity is the foundation of all re- 
ligion, whether natural or revealed. The deist, with the 
believer, must embrace this absurdity as a first principle. 
If we reject it, and commence atheists, we must embrace a 
thousand absurdities and impossibilities. 

If then we are assured that God is one ; and if he has 
been pleased to speak of himself as existing under the three 
characters of Father, Son, and Spirit ; what are we that we 
should refuse to speak of him in the same form ? Surely he 
best knoweth his own glorious and incomprehensible manner 
of existence, and hath a right to say in what language we, 
his poor short-sighted creatures, should think, and conceive, 
and speak of him. 

But if the doctrine of the Trinity be true, it is triumph- 
antly asked, why was it not more clearly revealed in the 
first ages of the world ? Why was it so long concealed ?— 
We may as well ask, why God did not create the world 
6000 years before it was created ? Or why Christ did not 
die as soon as man fell ? Or why man was permitted to fall 
at all ? Or why the Gospel was not preached in all its glory 
and fulness at the very first ? We may as well ask why man 
grows to maturity by degrees ; and why he is not made in a 

d d 



402 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART V. 



state of complete perfection ? Nay, we may with as much 
propriety find fault with God, and inquire of him, why we 
are placed upon earth for a while, in a state of trial and 
prohation, and not rather translated to heaven as soon as 
born ? The infinitely wise God hath thought proper to 
order it otherwise. This we know to be a matter of fact, 
and this is answer sufficient. It becomes not us to dictate 
to the Sovereign of the universe. All the creatures of God, 
we see, are placed in a state of growing perfection. And all 
his dispensations towards mankind, have, ever since the 
foundation of the world, been advancing from a state of less 
to a state of greater light, greater perspicuity, and greater 
perfection. The Adamical dispensation was, probably, the 
least clear and perfect. The Patriarchal w r as the next. 
The Mosaical was still more clear. The dispensation of 
John the Baptist was yet more bright. But the dispensa- 
tion of the Gospel, under which we live, is the brightest, 
the clearest, the fullest, the most complete of all. 

But now that the revelations of God to mankind are 
finished, why, it is asked again, is the doctrine of the Trinity 
left in so much obscurity, that it hath been a subject of con- 
tention ever since the beginning of the Christian dispensa- 
tion ? 

It may be replied, that , every doctrine both of natural 
and revealed religion hath been controverted, and is contro- 
verted at this day. Every principle in physics also hath 
been a subject of debate by one or another. And the more 
important the principle or doctrine, the more eagerly hath 
it been contested. But we say, secondly, that the doctrine 
of Christ's divinity and atonement ; the doctrine of the ex- 
istence, personality, divinity, and unceasing energy of the 
Holy Spirit, together with the doctrine of the Trinity, are 
revealed with sufficient perspicuity for the purposes of reli- 
gion. Is the Father called God ? So is the Son, and so is 
the Holy Ghost. Is the Father called Lord ? So is the 
Son, and so is the Holy Ghost. Is the Father eternal? 
So is the Son, and so is the Holy Ghost. Is the Father 
almighty ? So is the Son, and so is the Holy Ghost. Is 
the Father omnipresent ? So is the Son, and so is the 
Holy Ghost. Is the Father omniscient ? So is the Son, 
and so is the Holy Ghost. Is the Father uncreated ? So 



sect. 2. Remarks on Scripture Testimony. 



403 



is the Son, and so is the Holy Ghost. Is the Father in- 
comprehensible ? So is the Son, and so is the Holy Ghost. 
Was the Father concerned in the work of creation ? So 
was the Son, and so was the Holy Ghost. Is the Father 
the upholder of the universe ? So is the Son, and so is the 
Holy Ghost. Is the Father engaged in the regeneration of 
human souls ? So is the Son, and so is the Holy Ghost. 
Are we baptized in the name of the Father ? So likewise 
in the name of the Son, and in the name of the Holy Ghost. 
Is prayer addressed to the Father? So likewise to the Son, 
and to the Holy Ghost. Are we blessed in the name of the 
Father? So likewise in the name of the Son, and in the 
name of the Holy Ghost. Hath the Father a personal ex- 
istence ? So hath the Son, and so hath the Holy Ghost. 
Did the Father conduct the Israelites to the holy land ? So 
"did the Son, and so did the Holy Ghost. Is the incommu- 
nicable name Jehovah given to the Father ? So is it given 
also to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost* Is holiness as- 
cribed to the Father? So is it ascribed to the Son, and to 
the Spirit. Is goodness attributed to the Father ? So to 
the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. Is glory given to the Fa- 
ther ? So to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. 

If it should be objected, that we misunderstand the 
scriptures, and that there is no such doctrine as that of the 
Trinity contained in them : It may be replied, that we do 
not pretend to be free from errors and mistakes any more 
then other men : but we all know, that the most serious 
and learned, the most inquisitive and pious men, in all ; ges 
and nations of the Christian church, have steadily believed 
and professed it, as an essential truth revealed in the word 
of God *. It is true, the doctrine hath met with some op- 
posers : but then this is only what was long ago foretold in 
the same scriptures should come to pass. And what doc- 
trine has not met with opposers ? The very existence of 
God hath been denied. The holy scriptures have been con- 
tradicted and blasphemed. The existence of angels, devils, 
and spirits, hath been called in question. Nay, even the 
existence of our own souls, by which we think, and act, and 
speak \ and the very being of the substance and matter of 



Soamc Jenyns' View, p. 27. 
D d 2 



404 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART V. 



which our bodies are made, and which we see with our. eyes, 
and feel with our hands, have been denied and questioned. 
Let us not be surprised then, if the doctrine of the Divine 
Nature, as existing under the three incomprehensible cha- 
racters of Father, Son, and Spirit, meet with its contradicters 
and blasphemers. It would be very surprising if it did not, 
in such a world as this, and especially as we know this is 
only what the holy scriptures foretold should come to pass. 
But there tvere false prophets also among the people, even 
as there shall he false teachers among you, who privily 
shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord 
that bought them and bring upon themselves sivift de- 
struction. And many shall follow their pernicious wans, 
by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken 
of 2 Pet. 2. 1.2. Beloved, when I gave all diligence 
to write unto you of the common salvation ; it ivas needful 
for me to ivrite unto you, and exhort you, that ye should 
earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered 
unto the saints f. For there are certain men crept in un- 
awares, who tvere before of old ordained to this condemna- 
tion, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into 
lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our 
Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 3. 4. 

These are very striking and awful prophecies, and should 
make us all extremely cautious, how, and in what manner 
we conduct ourselves towards the Lord Jesus Christ. Here 
are false teachers foretold, w r ho, in an artful way, should la- 
bour to bring in among the disciples of Christ damnable 
heresies. And which is the principal of these heresies ? 
Even denying the Lord that bought them. Now was it 
ever known that any teachers in the Christian church so 
much as attempted to deny, that there had existed such a 

* " That Christ suffered and died as an atonement for the sins of man- 
kind, is a doctrine so constantly and so strongly enforced through every 
part of the New Testament, that whoever will seriously peruse those 
writings, and deny that it is there, may, with as much reason and truth, 
after reading the works of Thucydides and Livy, assert, that in them no 
mention is made of any facts relative to the histories of Greece and 
.Rome." Soame Jenyns' View, p. 29, 

t See Bishop Home's excellent Sermon on the great duty of con- 
tending for the faith. 



SECT. 2. 



Remarks on Scripture Testimony. 



405 



person as Jesus Christ ? An attempt of this kind was never 
made by any Christian teachers, since the gospel had a 
being. 

But there have been, and there still are many, who de- 
grade the Redeemer to the level of a man. There have 
been many in times of old, and there are now many teachers 
in the church of England, and among the Dissenters, who 
have brought in this damnable heresy. And what is this 
damnable heresy ? Even denying the Lord that bought 
them, so far as to bring him to a level with themselves. 
They deny his divinity, his godhead, his pre-existent nature, 
his merits, his atonement, the efficacy of his blood. Now, 
surely, if the Redeemer is a partaker of the Divine Nature ; 
if he assumed human form for the purpose of dying to atone 
for the sins of mankind; if he is the Creator and Upholder of 
the world, in common with the Father and the Holy Spirit ; to 
say he had no existence before he was born, and to make 
him a mere good man, sent from God to teach the children 
of Adam his will ; surely this is to deny the Lord who bought 
ns. And then, it is very observable, that the same persons 
who deny our Lord's divine nature and atoning death, deny 
also the personal existence and divinity of the Holy Spirit. 
They absolutely deny, annihilate, subvert, destroy his very 
being, and barefacedly teach and profess, that there is no 
Holy Ghost. 

If this is the truth, mankind are yet sitting in darkness, 
and in the region and shadow of death, notwithstanding all 
the advantages we are supposed to derive from divine reve- 
lation. The bible is ill calculated to lead into all religious 
truth. It is rather suited to mislead the Christian world. 
And, indeed, it hath misled the great body ol Christians 
from the beginning to the present day. We, however, 
have not " so learned Christ/' We are well satisfied with 
the sacred writings. To the taw and to the testimony^, by 
the grace of God, we will evermore refer, and are persuaded, 
that if any man speak not according to that word 3 it is 
because there is no true light in him. 

We will, therefore, close this part of our Plea in the 
language of John, Rev. 1. 4— 6\ Grace and peace from 
ii im which is, and which was, and which is to come; 
and from the Seven Spirits ttrhieh are before his throne \j 



406 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART V. 



and from Jestjs Christ, ivho is the faithful ivitness, 
and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the 
kings of the earth. Unto him that loved as, and washed 
tcs from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us 
kings and priests unto God and his Father : to him be 
glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen, 



sect. 1. Testimonies of the Ancient Jews. 407 



PART SIXTH. 



SECTION L 



OPINIONS OF THE ANCIENT JEWS CONCERNING THE PLU- 
RALITY OF THE DIVINE NATURE, FROM THE APOCRY- 
PHAL BOOKS. 



The light in luhich learned Jews, Heathens, and Christians, 
believed that a plurality of Persons subsist in the Di- 
vine Nature, a strong presumption of its truth. — Apo- 
crypha, ivritten by learned Jews, ivho lived mostly hun- 
dreds of years before the coming of Christ. — Some of 
them strongly allude to the doctrine of the Trinity : — 
Others positively assert it : — Proof of both from their 
writings. 

It will possibly be replied to all that has been said, 
though we mean well, yet we are mistaken, and misunder- 
stand the scriptures upon these subjects. 

This may be the case. We never have professed infal- 
lability. And be it observed, that the adversaries of the 
Trinity are equally fallible with ourselves. But in what 
manner did the Ancients understand them ? If both learned 
Jews, Heathens, and Christians, who lived either before, or 
soon after our Saviour's time, believed that a Trinity of per- 
sons subsist in the Divine Nature, this will be a strong pre- 
sumption, that the view we have before given of the doc- 



408 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VI. 



trine is, in the main, the true one. Now it has already ap- 
peared, I apprehend, that the ancient Jews understood those 
passages of the Old Testament, which have been produced, 
and others of a similar kind, as conveying the idea of un- 
created dignity in the Son and Spirit, and of a plurality in 
the Godhead. This has been ably proved by various learned 
men. I will, therefore, produce only a few more instances, 
and throw the whole into one view, to satisfy the inquisitive 
Christian, who wishes to be informed, and who may not 
have it in his power to examine such authors as contain this 
kind of Evidence. 

The Apocryphal books, which were mostly written be- 
fore our Saviour's time by some learned Jews, being the 
oldest, we will begin with them, and proceed as near as may 
be in chronological order. 

1. Tobit is the most ancient of these authors ; he having 
lived upwards of 700 years before the birth of our Saviour. 
—The only allusion to a plurality of persons in the Divine 
Nature to be found in this book is in the prayer of Tobias : 
— Blessed art thou, O God of our fathers, and blessed is 
thy holy and glorious name forever j let the heavens bless 
thee, and all thy creatures. Thou madest Adam, and gavest 
him Eve his wife for an helper and stay ; of them came 
mankind ; thou hast said, It is not good that man should 
be alone; let us make unto him an aid like unto himself. 
Chap. 8. 5, 6*. 

2. The book of Judith was written 680 years before 
our Saviour. In this composition, the creation of the 
world is ascribed to the Spirit of God, or rather, in the 
language of the Jews, to the Son and Spirit of the Al- 
mighty ; — " I will sing unto the Lord a new song. O Lord, 
thou art great and glorious, wonderful in strength, and invi- 
sible. Let all creatures serve thee, for thou speakest and 
they were made, thou didst send forth thy spirit, and it 
created them, and there is none that can resist thy voice/' 
Judith 16. 13, 14. 

3. The first book of Esdras is generally supposed to 
have been written upwards of 6*00 years before the birth of 
Christ. I submit it to the judgment of the pious reader, 
whether the description, which the Hebrew youth gave of 
Truth, might not have some reference to our blessed 3a~ 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Ancient Jews. 409 

viour, who is emphatically styled the wisdom of God, and 
the Way, the Truth, and the Life : — " O ye men, are not 
women strong ? Great is the earth, high is the heavens, swift 
is the sun in his course, for he compasseth the heavens 
round about, and fetcheth his course again to his own place 
in one day. Is he not great that maketh those things ? 
Therefore great is the Truth, and stronger than all things. 
All the earth calleth upon the Truth, and the heavens bles- 
seth it : all works shake and tremble at it, and with it is no 
unrighteous thing. — As for Truth it endureth and is always 
strong ; it liveth and conquereth forevermore. With her 
there is no accepting of persons or rewards ; but she doeth 
the things that are just, and refraineth from all unjust and 
wicked things ; and all men do well like of her works : 
neither in her judgment is any unrighteousness : and she is 
the strength, kingdom, power, and majesty, of all ages. 
Blessed be the God of Truth. — Great is Truth, and mighty 
above all things. 1 Esd. 4. 34 — 41. 

4. In the second book of Esdras we have a particular 
description of the Son of God, as of a person superior in 
order to the Angels :■ — " I Esdras saw upon the mount Sion 
a great people, whom I could not number, and they all 
praised the Lord with songs. And in the midst of them 
there was a young man of a high stature, taller than all the 
rest, and upon every one of their heads he set crowns, and 
was more exalted; which I marvelled at greatly. So I 
asked the angel, and said, Sir, what are these ? He answered 
and said unto me, These be they that have put off the mor- 
tal clothing, and put on the immortal, and have confessed 
the name of God : now are they crowned, and receive 
palms. Then said I unto the angel, What young person is 
it that crowneth them, and giveth them palms in their 
hands ? So he answered and said unto me, It is the Son of 
God, whom they have confessed in the world. Then began 
I greatly to commend them that stood so stiffly for the 
Name of the Lord. Then the angel said unto me; Go thy 
way, and tell my people what manner of things, and how 
great wonders of the Lord thy God, thou hast seen." 2 Esd. 
2. 42—48. 

5. In another place this same Esdras calls our Saviour 
by name, and expressly says, that he should die . u For my 

f . ' v' : . : <;,' " >' 



410 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VI. 



Son Jesus/' says God, " shall be revealed with those that 
be with him, and they that remain shall rejoice within four 
hundred years. After these years shall my Son Christ die, 
and all men that have life." 2 Esd. 7. 28, 2.9. 

6. " If I have found grace before thee, send the Holy 
Ghost into me ; and I shall write all that hath been done 
in the world since the beginning." 2 Esd. 14. 22. 

7. The book intitled Ecclesiasticus was written about 
200 years before Christ. — The author of it seems to have 
thought it was the Logos who conversed with Moses upon 
mount Sinai : — " He made him to hear his voice, and 
brought him into the dark cloud, and gave him command- 
ments before his face, even the law of life and knowledge, 
that he might teach Jacob his covenants, and Israel his 
judgments." Eccl. 45. 5. 

8. The angel, which appeared to Joshua, is understood 
by him to have been the Lord himself : — 66 He called upon 
the Most high Lord when the enemies pressed upon him 
on every side, and the Great Lord heard him. And with 
hailstones of mighty power he made the battle to fall violent- 
ly upon the nations, and in the descent he destroyed them 
that resisted, that the nations might know all their strength, 
because he fought in the sight of the Lord, and he follow- 
ed the Mighty." Eccl. 46*. 5, 6. 

9. The miracles wrought by Elias, the author of this 
book, refers to the agency of the Logos : — " By the Word 
of the Lord he shut up the heaven, and also three times 
brought down fire. O Elias, how wast thou honoured in 
thy wonderous deeds ! and who may glory like unto thee ; 
who didst raise up a dead man from death, and his soul 
from the place of the dead by the Word of the Most High t" 
Eccl. 48. 3, 4, 5. 

10. That is a remarkable passage where he calls God a 
Father, and is much in the spirit of several expressions 
in the Old Testament : — K I called upon the Lord, the 
Father of my Lord." Eccl. 51. 10. Comp. Psa. 110. 1. 

1 1 . The second book of Maccabees was not written till 
about an hundred years before the birth of our Saviour. 
There is one passage in it where the Author seems to have 
considered the appearance of God to the assistant of the 
Jews in battle^ as a real and visible appearance \ conse- 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Ancient Jews. 411 

quently, as the Father never did appear, it must have been 
the Logos. — " So every man praised toward the even that 
glorious Lord, saying, Blessed be he that hath kept his own 
place undefiled. So that fighting with their hands, and 
praying unto God with their hearts, they slew no less than 
thirty and five thousand men ; for through the Appearance 
of God they were greatly cheered." 2 Mac. 15. 27, 34. 

12. The Wisdom of Solomon was written by an un- 
known author, a little before the time of our Saviour, as is 
generally supposed. It contains several passages descriptive 
of s the dignity both of the Son and Spirit of God. We 
will produce some of them in the order in which they are 
found in the book: — " Into a malicious soul Wisdom shall 
not enter; nor dwell in the body that is subject unto sin. 
For the Holy Spirit of discipline will flee deceit. — The 
Spirit of the Lord filleth the world." Wisdom 1. 4, 
5, 7. 

13. " Wisdom, which is the worker of all things, taught 
me ; for in her is an understanding spirit, holy, one only, 
manifold, subtil, lively, clear, undefiled, plain, not subject 
to hurt, loving the thing that is good, quick, which cannot 
be letted, ready to do good, kind to man, steadfast, sure, 
free from care, having all power, overseeing all things, and 
going through all understanding, pure and most subtle 
spirits. For wisdom is more moving than any motion : she 
passeth and goeth through all things by reason of her pure- 
ness. For she is the breath of the power of God, and a 
pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty: 
therefore can no defiled thing fall into her. For she is the 
brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of 
the power of God, and the image of his goodness. And 
being but one, she can do all things : and remaining in 
herself, she maketh all things new ; and in all ages enter- 
ing into holy souls, she maketh them friends of God, and 
prophets. For God loveth none but him that dwelleth with 
wisdom. For she is more beautiful than the sun, and above 
all the order of stars : being compared with the light, she is 
found before it. For alter this cometh night; but vice 
shall not prevail against wisdom." Wisdom 7. 22 — 30. 

14. Then, after these and many other things said of 
Wisdom^ he proceeds to pray for the blessing : — " O God 



412 



DOCTRINE OY THE TRINITY. 



PART VI. 



of my fathers, and Lord of mercy, who hast made all things 
with thy word. Give me ivisdom that sitteth by thy throne, 
and reject me not from among thy children : ivisdom was 
with thee : which knoweth thy works, and was present 
when thou madest the world, and knew what was accepta- 
ble in thy sight, and right in thy commandments : O send 
her out of thy holy heavens and from the throne of thy 
glory, that being present she may labour with me, that I 
may know what is pleasing unto thee. For she knoweth 
and understandeth all things, and she shall lead me soberly 
in my doings, and preserve me in her power. And thy 
counsel who hath known, except thou give ivisdom, and 
send thy Holy Spirit from above." Wisdom 9. 1, 4, 10, 
11, 18. — After this prayer he informs us, that every thing 
which has been done in the world that is excellent has 
been done by wisdom. It was wisdom that preserved Adam, 
Noe, Abraham, and many others. 

15. " Thine incorruptible Spirit, O Lord, is in all 
things/' Wis. 12. 1. 

16, Again: — " For it was neither herb, nor mollifying 
plaister that restored them to health ; but thy Word, O 
Lord, which healeth all things." Wis. 16. 12. — It is pro- 
bable, I think, that this account of Wisdom is not a bare 
personification, but that the Holy Spirit, the third sub- 
sistence in the Divine Nature, is the person signified. 

17- " Thine almighty TVord leapt down from heaven, 
out of thy royal throne, as a fierce man of war into the midst 
of a land of destruction." Wis. 18. 15. 

Baruch is supposed by some to have been written about 
600 years before the birth of Christ, but others place it even 
later than that event. 

18. His sentiments, however, concerning our blessed 
Saviour are much the same with the rest of his country- 
men : — " This is our God," says he, " and there shall 
none other be accounted of in comparison of him. He hath 
found out all the way of knowledge, and hath given it unto 
Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved. Afterward did 
he shew himself upon earthy and conversed with men" 
Chap, 3, 35—37. 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Ancient Jews. 



413 



PART SIXTH. 

— 

SECTION II, 

THE OPINIONS OF PHILO, AND OTHER ANCIENT JEWS, CON- 
CERNING THE PLURALITY OP THE DIVINE NATURE. 



Philo, one of the most learned of the Ancient Jews - 
What Eusehhis says of him. — His Testimony. — His 
Opinions agree ivith those of the earliest Jewish 
Authors.— Opinions of the Hebrews concerning the first 
cause of the universe, continued. — The account Euse- 
bius gives of a Poem written more than two hundred 

years before the coming of Christ. Remarkable 

testimony from Aristohulus. — Poem of Orpheus. — 

Testements of the Twelve Patriarchs : Various 

Quotations. — Articles of a believing Jews creed. 



Some other learned men among the Jews, and Com- 
mentators upon the Old Testament, who wrote before, or 
near to, the times of our Saviour, have spoken largely and 
strongly concerning the dignity of Messiah, and the distinc- 
tions in the Divine Nature. I will mention such as have 
occurred in the course of my reading. We will begin with 
Philo. 

Philo was one of the most learned of all the ancient 
Jews. He flourished, as we are informed by Eusebius, in 
reign of the emperor Caligula, and was therefore contempo- 
rary with the Apostles. This father of Ecclesiastical history 



414 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VI. 



gives him an excellent character. He says, " He was a 
man of great eminence with the generality, not merely of 
our Christian brethren, hut also of such as have been bred 
in Gentile literature. In his descent," continues Euse- 
bius, " he was a Hebrew, and yielded to none of those at 
Alexandria, who were distinguished for their consequence. 
What and how great advances he made in the knowledge 
of the divine, and his country's religion, is evident to all 
from his works : and, in the philosophic and liberal parts 
of Gentile literature, I need not say how great he was : for 
studying with peculiar zeal the discipline of Plato and 
Pythagoras, he is reported by history, to have surpassed all 
his contemporaries 

This learned man hath said many extraordinary things 
in his writings concerning the Divine Nature f ; a few of 
which I will now proceed to lay before the reader in one 
view. 

19. " The Divine Logos — is the power which also 
made the world, having the True Good for his fountain J. M 

20. " That invisible and intellectual Being, the Divine 
Logos and the Logos of God, he (Moses) calls the image of 
God \ and the image of this image that intellectual light 
which was made the image of the Divine Logos, who has 
explained the generation of it: and it is a super-celestial 
star, the fountain of the sensible stars, which not impro- 
perly one may call Universal Light, from which the sun, 
and the moon, and the other wandering and unwandering 
stars draw, according to the power of each, their proper 
splendors of that pure and unmixed light, which is darkened 
over when it begins to turn in the transformation, from in- 
tellectual to sensible This is somewhat in the spirit of 
John, who calls the Logos the true light that enlighteneth 
every man that comet h into the zvorlcL Chap. 1. 9. 

* Eccl. Hist. b. 2. c. 4. 
t "The Jews themselves, finding every thing in Philo so agreeable to 
the notions, that their ancestors had in his age, do own them (his writings) 
to be the writings of a Jew, and of Philo in particular ; as we see in 
Manasseh Ben Israel, who in many places urges his authority ; and (in 
Exod. p. 137.) shews, that his opinions do generally agree with those of 
their most ancient anthors." Allix's Judgment, p. 78. 

} P- 4. § p. 6. 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Ancient Jews. 415 

21. " Every man is related to the Divine Logos in his 
understanding ; being made the express image of the bles- 
sed Nature, or a particle of it, or a radiation from it*." 

22. " The shadow of God is his Logos, whom he used 
as his instrument in making the world f." 

23. " The Divine Logos is very sharp sighted, even 
to be a Being sufficient for the inspection of all tilings J." 
See Heb. 4. 12, 13. 

24. " My soul said to me, With that only true God 
there are two supreme and first powers, namely, goodness 
and power, and that by the first all things are made ; and 
by the second all things that are made, aar governed §." 
These declarations are perfectly in the spirit of the New 
Testament. 

25. " He is the cause of thy participating in good or 
evil — who is the rudder — holder and governor of the uni- 
verse, the Divine Logos ||." Comp. Col. 1. 16, 17. 

26. " By his Logos God made all things Compare 
John 1. 3; Col. 1. 16: and Heb. 1. 2, 10. 

27. " When God, attended with his tivo principal 
powers, government and goodness; himself, who is one 
only, being between them, he framed three conceptions in 
the contemplative soul ; each of which can by no means be 
comprehended, for his powers are unlimited, they each con- 
tain the whole **." 

28. " The supreme God is superior to these powers of 
his, and is to be seen without them, and appears in them ft." 
Compare Mat. 28. 19, and 2 Cor. 13. 14. 

29. This learned man upon citing the words of David, 
cc The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not therefore ivant>" 
immediately adds: — " Every one ought to say as much as 
this for himself. For every friend of God is obliged to com- 
pose such another hymn as this ; nay, the whole world 
ought to do so. For God governs all this universe as a 
shepherd does his flock, or a king his people, over-ruling and 
managing the earth, water, air, and fire, and whatever any 
of these do contain, whether vegetables or animals, things 
mortal or spiritual ; and particularly the heavens above, the 
revolutions of sun and moon, and the harmonious dances of 



* p, 32. t p. 79. t p. 92. $ p. 112. 

|1 p. 114. % 131. I p. J 39. ttlbitL 



416 



DOCTRINE OP THE TRINITY. 



PART VI. 



the other luminaries and stars. All these does God govern 
according to justice and law, having set over them his own 
righteous Logos, who is his first-horn Son, and who takes 
upon himself the care of this sacred flock as vicegerent of 
this great king. Therefore it is said, Exod. 23. 20. Be- 
hold, I send my ANGEL before thee to keep thee in the 
way : therefore let the whole world say, We are the great 
and admirable flock of the true God ; the Lord feeds me, 
and therefore nothing shall be wanting to me Comp. 
Isa. 40. 10, 11, and Heb. 1. 3. 

30. " This world is the younger Son of God, as being a 
sensible object ; for he mentioned not the Son that is elder 
than this, and he is an intellectual Being ; and he, consider- 
ing himself as worthy of eldership, thought proper to abide 
with God himself f" 

31. " Him the Father of existence produced as his 
eldest Son, whom at other times he has named his First- 
begotten ; and who indeed on being generated, in imitation 
of his Father's ways, and looking upon his archetypal pat- 
terns, moulded forms J/' 

32. " If none of us be worthy to assume the title of 
Son of God, yet do thou thy endeavours to be adorned, as 
in the first-born Logos of God, the most ancient Angel, 
even the Archangel who hath many names, namely, the 
beginning, and the name of God, and the Logos, and the 
man according to his image, and the seeing Israel. There- 
fore I was induced before to commend those who refer their 
original to him. For if we are not worthy to be esteemed 
the children of God, yet we may lay claim to this, that we 
are the children of the most holy Logos, who is his eternal 
image. For the most ancient Word is the image of 
God§." It seems from this passage that Philo considered 
all the Divine appearances recorded in the Old Testament 
as having been made by the Logos of God, as indeed he 
more fully expresses it in other places. 

33. " The Father of all things is in the middle, who 
in the sacred writings is by his proper name called, He 
that is : but on each side are the powers, which are most 
ancient and nearest to him that is, one of which is called 

* p. 195. t p. 298, $ p. 329. § p. 041. 



sect. 2, Testimonies of the Ancient Jews, 41 7 

the Creative, the other the Royal Power. The creative 
Power is called God ; for by it he hath placed and set in 
order all things ; and the Royal Power is called Lord ; for it 
is right that the Maker should govern and command that 
which is made. He therefore who is in the middle, being 
attended by each of his Powers, represents to the intelligent 
mind the appearance sometimes of one, sometimes of 
three From whencesoever this learned Jew had his in- 
telligence, here is an evident reference to the three Per- 
sons and one God of the Old Testament ; which doctrine 
is more fully displayed by our Saviour and his Apostles in 
the New. 

34. Speaking of the cherubim on the mercy-seat as 
symbolical representations of what he calls the creating and 
governing powers, he makes this additional reflection : — 
u The Divine Logos is above these, of whom we can have 
no idea by the sight, or any other sense ; he being himself 
the image of God, the eldest of all intelligible beings, sitting 
nearest to him who is truly the only one, there being no 
distance between them ; and therefore he says, Iivill speak 
unto thee from the mercy -seat between the two cheruhims ; 
thereby representing the Logos, as the charioteer by whom 
the motion of these powers is directed ; and himself who 
speaks to him, as the rider, who commands the charioteer 
how he is to manage the reins f." 

35. " Rut this excellent gift the Father of all things 
hath bestowed upon the Prince of angels, the most ancient 
word, that standing in the middle, he might judge between 
the creature and the Creator; and he always supplicates 
the immortal God for mortals, and is the ambassador from 
the supreme King to his subjects ; and in this gift he re- 
joices, as highly valuing himself upon it j saying, I stood 
in the middle, between you and the Lord, as being neither 
unbegotten as God, nor yet begotten as you ; but am a 
middle between the extremes, and a pledge for both ; for 
the creature with the Creator, that he shall not wholly apos- 
tatize from him, so as to prefer disorder before order and 
beauty ; for the Creator with the creature, to give him an 
assured hope, that the most merciful God will never abandon 



* p. 367. t p. 465. See also Dodd. on the first of John's Gospel. 

e e 



418 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VI. 



his own workmanship ; for I declare peace to the creature 
from him who makes wars to cease, even God, who is the 
King of peace 

36. " The holy Logos enjoins to some what they are to 
do, as a king; others acquainted with him he profitably in- 
structs as their master ; some as a counsellor he leads into 
the best advice; others, who of themselves know not what 
is good for them, he greatly assists. To some as a friend he 
speaks gently, and by persuasion brings them into knowledge 
of great secrets, such as the profane are not admitted to. And 
sometimes as he spoke to Adam he asks, Where art thou f 
— He called Moses out of the bush, saying, Moses, Moses ; 
who answered, What is itf?" 

37. " There are two temples of God, one indeed this 
world, in which his First-begotten, the divine Logos, is also 
high-priest ; and the other the rational soul J." 

3S. Speaking of the breast-plate of the high-priest he 
says, " The four rows, each of which comprehends three 
precious stones, represent the oracle of the Logos. For it 
was necessary that the priest, in the supplications to the 
almighty Father of the world, should therein make use of 
his infinitely perfect Son, as paraclete, in order thus to ob- 
tain an amnesty of sins, and a supply of desirable good 
things We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus 
Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our 
sins. 1 John 2. 1 , 2. 

39. " The Logos is the character of God — the image of 
God — the bread and food which God hath given to the 
soul — the house of the Father in which he dwells — he is 
the divine word — the governor of all things — the victory of 
the great King — the instrument by whom God made the 
world — all light is from his Word — he is the most ancient 
Son of the Father of the universe — the first-born Son of 
God|| All these expressions are more or less confirmed 
by the holy scriptures. I am far from saying that every 
thing this learned man has advanced is exactly conformable 
thereunto : but, I believe, the reader will agree with me, 
that his views of the sacred Trinity, and the several offices 
the Father, Son, and Spirit sustain in the scheme of man's 

* p. 509. t p. 593, 594. $ p. 597, § p. 673. 

|| Philo's Works, passim* 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Ancient Jews, 419 



redemption, are much clearer than might have been ex- 
pected *. 

Eusebius has given us the sentiments of the ancient 
Jews pretty much at large in several of his works. The 
Evangelical Preparation and Demonstration abound with 
much valuable and curious information. I will select a 
few passages on the subject of our present inquiry. They 
will throw much light upon the opinions of the ancient 
synagogue. 

40. " Examine also concerning the Second Cause, 
whom the oracles of the Hebrews teach to be the Logos of 
God, and to be God off God ; as we ourselves too have been 
instructed in theology. Moses then does expressly give us 
the theology of two Lords, when he says, And the Lord 
rained from the Lord fire and brimstone upon the city of 
the ungodly. There he hath familiarly made an ap- 
plication to both the two, of the characters among the He- 
brews. And this is that theology, which is unspoken by 
them in the four elements. In concert with him does 
David, another prophet likewise, and king of the Hebrews, 
speak, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my 
right hand; indicating the Most High God by the first 
Lord, and the second to him by the second appellation. For 
to whom else is it lawful to suppose the right hand to be 
conceded by the ungenerated Deity ; except to him alone, 
of whom we are speaking ? Whom the same prophet in an- 
other place more plainly manifests to be the Logos of the 
Father, holding him forth in his Theology to be the Fabri- 
cator of the universe ; when he says, By the Logos of the 
Lord were the heavens established f These sentiments 
are perfectly consistent with the general views of the Chris- 
tian fathers, and with those doctrines in our day usually 
deemed orthodox. Again, 

41. " The oracles among the Hebrews, after the un- 
caused and ungenerated person of the God of all, which is 
unmixt and beyond all comprehension ; introduce a second 
person and divine power, the Principle of all created things, 
subsisting the first, and generated out of the First Cause j 

^ See Jamieson's Vindication, part 1. chap. 1. for a gopd account of 
the doctrine of Philo, t p. 312—31.3, 

s e 2 " 



420 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VI. 



calling it the Logos, and the Wisdom, and the Power, of 
God. — David celebrates the Logos of God, who fabricated 
the universe. — And this Divine Logos the holy scripture in- 
troduces at different times, as sent by the Father for the 
safety of men : and therefore reports him to have shewn 
himself to Abraham, to Moses, and the other prophets who 
were dear to God, and to have taught many things by ora- 
cles, and to have foretold things to come ; when it men- 
tions God and the Lord, to have appeared to and conversed 
with the prophets. — Well then does the very wise Moses 
say, — beginning the cosmogony with him, In the beginning 
God created the heaven and the earth. With him, he in 
troduces God in the creation of man, as communing with 
his domestic and first-begotten Logos ; when he writes, 
And God said, Let us make man after our image and our 
likeness. To this also, the Psalmist alluded, when, in dis- 
coursing of the First Cause, he says, He spake and they 
were made, he commanded and they were created; placing 
the order and command of the First Cause opposed to the 
Second, as of the Father to the Son. Truly it is self-evi- 
dent, that he who speaks it to another, and he who com- 
mands any thing commands it to another beyond himself. 
And Moses expressly mentioning both the two Lords, 
namely, the Father and Son, thus reports concerning the 
punishment against the ungodly, And the Lord rained from 
the Lord brimstone and fire upon Sodom a7id Gomorrah, 
In harmony with which, David says in his Psalms, The 
Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand*" 
These being the opinions of the ancient Jews as well as 
Christians, it is no mean authority for our interpretation of 
the several passages of scripture here referred to. 

42. The opinions of the Hebrews concerning God, the 
First Cause of the universe, continued. 

" Thus hath Moses begun his theology : — In the begin- 
ning God created the heaven and the earth. Then he says, 
God said, Let thence be light, and there was light. And 
again, God said, Let there be a firmament, and it ivas so. 
And again, God said, Let the earth bring forth grass-~ 
arid it was so. And again, God said, Let there be lights 



* P. 188—190, 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Ancient Jews. 421 

in the firmament of the heaven — and it was so. — Such 
indeed is the theology received among the Hebrews, which 
teaches all things to have been framed by the fabricating 
Logos of God. And it afterwards informs us, that the 
whole world was not left thus desolate by him who framed 
it, as an orphan left by a father ; but is for ever governed 
by the Providence of God : so that God is not only the 
Fabricator and Maker of the whole, but also the Preserver, 
and Governour, and King, and Ruler ; presiding continually 
over the sun itself, and the moon, and the stars, and the 
whole heaven and the world; with his great eye and divine 
power inspecting all things, and being present to all things 
heavenly and earthly, and directing and governing all things 
in the world. Concerning the framing of the world ; con- 
cerning the turns and changes of the whole, the substance 
of the soul, and the fabrication of the seen and unseen na- 
ture of all rational beings ; and concerning the Providence 
over all ; and concerning what are yet above these, the First 
Cause of all, and the theology of the Second ; and concern- 
ing other things, that are comprehensible by the understand- 
ing alone ; tr>e Hebrews have wound their discourses and 
their theories, well and accurately round : — that we may 
know, the universe is not spontaneously directed, or hath 
been always existing at random and by chance, from an irra- 
tional guidance ; but is conducted by the Charioteer of God, 
the Logos, and is governed by the power of unspeakable 
Wisdom." * This extract is much in the spirit of the 
former, and ascribes the creation, preservation, and govern- 
ment of the universe to God and his Powers ; that is, to 
speak in the language of Christian theology, to the Father, 
-Son, and Holy Ghost. Further, 

43. "A Triad shines, a Monad reigns in each." Would 
not this then be a speech the most worthy of God, of the 
rational and all-wise power of God, to refer the principle of 
the framing of the universe, rather to the very Wisdom and 
the very Logos of God, than to the elements that have no 
souls and no reason ? For such indeed among the He- 
brews, were the opinions concerning the principle of all 
things. And let us see also what they teach, concerning 



* P £ 186, 187, 307. 



422 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VI. 



the framing of the rational beings, that are after the First 
Principle. Again, 

44. " After the uncaused and ungenerated person of 
God, the universal King, they tell us of a Principle that was 
generated from no other than the Father, being the First- 
begotten, the Coadjutor of the Father's council, and imaged 
after him ; which Principle presides over all the things, that 
were afterwards created ; for which reason also, they have 
been accustomed to call it the Image of God, and the Power 
of God, and the Wisdom of God, and the Logos of God, 
yea, and even the General of the Host of the Lord, and the 
Angel of the Grand Council : — the Power of the God of all, 
which is great without bounds and beyond expression, tak- 
ing in all things at once ; and the Second after the Father, 
being the equally fabricating and enlightening power of the 
Divine Logos. Wherefore also the Hebrews love to name 
him, both the true Light and the Sun of righteousness : 
there being likewise, after the Second person, a Third — the 
Holy Ghost, which very Being they rank in the first and 
royal dignity and honour of a Principle of the universe ; he 
himself being constituted by the^ Maker of all, a Principle 
of the things created afterwards, I mean of the things that 
were inferior and want aid from him. But this Being, hold- 
ing the third rank, assists those who are inferior to him with 
his better powers ; yet indeed receives not the powers from 
any other, than from the God Logos, who is truly higher 
and better, and whom we have said to be the Second to the 
Most High, and the ungenerated person of God the universal 
King : from whom even he himself, the God Logos, re- 
ceiving aid and drawing Divinity, as from a perpetual and 
overflowing fountain of Divinity, communicates the splen- 
dours of his domestic light to all, as well as to the Holy 
Ghost himself, who is nearer to him than all, and very nigh, 
and to the intelligent and divine powers after him, abun- 
dantly and without envy : and that the ungenerated Princi- 
ple of *he universe, being the fountain of all Good, of Divi- 
nity, and Life and Light, and the cause of every virtue; 
and being the Primary of the Primaries, and the Principle 
of Principles, and rather beyond the Principle and the First, 
and every imagination spoken or apprehended 3 communi- 
cated to the First-begotten alone, all whatever he held in- 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Ancient Jews. 423 

volved in his unspeakable powers, as to him who alone was 
capable of taking in and receiving that, which is not to be 
attained or taken in by others, the abundance of the Father's 
Goods ; and affords them in part to those who are partially 
worthy, by the ministry and mediation of the Second One, 
as every person can attain : of which the perfect and the 
highly sacred things, were imparted by the Father himself 
to the Third One, the Ruler and Governour of them below, 
who through the Son receives the things of the Father. 
And from hence all the Divines of the Hebrews, after the 
God over all, and after his First-begotten Wisdom, deify 
the Third and Holy Power, calling him Holy Ghost ; by 
whom also those were enlightened, who were inspired by 
God." * This paragraph is extremely remarkable, full, and 
satisfactory. Every sentiment may not be exactly conform- 
able to the views of the gospel ; but the leading principles 
are surprisingly consentaneous thereunto. The fundamental 
principles of true religion have been the same in all 
ages. 

45. "The eternal Word of the everlasting God is the 
strongest and firmest support of the universe." f 

46. Eusebius tells us, that all the Hebrew Divines do 
acknowledge, after the most high God, and after his first- 
horn Wisdom, a third holy poiver, whom they call the 
Holy Ghost, affirming him to be God, by whom the pro- 
phets were inspired." J This is the same sentiment we 
have extracted at large from the works of this learned 
man. 

47. The same Eusebius has given us some account of 
a Dramatic poem, written by a Jew named Ezekiel, who 
lived about two hundred years before our Saviour. In this 
poem God is introduced holding a dialogue with Moses from 
the burning bush. And from this dialogue it appears, that 
the ancient Jews considered the Being, who appeared upon 
that awful occasion, as the Logos, and that the Angel, who 
destroyed the first-born of Egypt, was the same person. 

The Almighty then addresses Moses : — 

Stop, O most worthy, nor approach thou near, 
O Moses, till thy foot-string thou hast loos'd ; 

* P. 191, 192. t Euseb. Praep. Evan. 1. 7, c. 13. t Scott's 
Christian Life, vol. 3, notes at the end, 



424 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. PART VI. 



For holy is the ground on which thou stand'st, 
And from the bush the heavenly Logos shines, &c. 

And Ezekiel introduces God speaking thus concerning 
the destruction of the first-born : — 

But thou shalt tell my people, when at eve 
They sacrifice the paschal lamb to God, 
That they shall touch their outer doors with blood ; 
And the DREAD ANGEL, seeing, shall pass by. 

48. He also gives" us a remarkable testimony to the 
doctrine of the Divine Logos from Aristobulus, a learned 
and philosophic Jew, who lived a hundred and fifty years 
before the birth of our Saviour : — These are, says this 
learned man, Aristobulus's words concerning the Second 
Cause. And let this be transferred also to the Wisdom : 
for all light is from it. Wherefore some also (of the Jews) 
have said, being of the sect of the Peripatetics ; that this has 
the office of a lamp, for they who follow it continually, 
shall through all their life remain without trouble. But one 
of our progenitors, Solomon, more plainly and more beauti- 
fully said, that it existed before the heavens and the 
earth *. 

49. Again : — Pythagoras, and Socrates, and Plato, seem 
to me to have surveyed all (the law of Moses) with a curious 
eye, and to have followed him in saying, that the materials 
of the universe heard the voice of God ; all accurately be- 
lieving it to be made by God, and to be incessantly bound 
together by him. And Orpheus also, in his poems on the 
things said to him according to the Sacred Word, declares 
thus concerning all nature having been made, and being 
now preserved, by the Divine power ; and concerning God 
being over all. And he says thus : — 

On the Divine Logos look, approach him near, 
To him direct thy intellect and heart, 
Walk firmly in his path, and gaze upon 
The sole, th' immortal Maker of the world : 
For all the ancient Logos shines in him. 
He is the One consummate in himself, 
And all things take their finish'd form from him ; 
With them he is encircled ; nor can any 
Of mortal spirits see him, as he is. 



* P. 190, 191, 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Ancient Jews, 425 

But fix'd the Logos is in ample heav'n, 
There mounted on his golden throne he sits, 
And rests his feet upon the earth below. 
To ocean's bounds his right hand he has stretch'd ; 
The hills are trembling to their base within, 
His wrath's dread weight unable to sustain. 
But still to heav'n his person he confines, 
And thence performs whate'er he wills on earth ; 
Having within himself at once the end, 
The midst, and the beginning of all things. 

As the great Logos of the ancient times. 
Who is of matter to be born, ordain'd ; 
I've had the law all folded up from God ; 
Or else I should not dare to speak of it. 
E'en now I shake through all my shuddering limbs, 
Though from the sky, I know, he reigns o'er all. 
But, O my son, do thou these thoughts receive, 
A sacred silence keep concerning them, 
And in thy bosom lay them safely up. 

Such are the sentiments we learn from the collections 
of this worthy man. The Jews obtained their ideas con- 
cerning the Divine Nature from the Law and the Prophets, 
and, possibly, from certain traditional information also, 
handed down from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, 
and from Abraham to Moses. The Heathens, probably, 
gathered what they knew of the Divine Logos, either from 
the same sources, or from the connexions they sometimes 
formed with the Jews dispersed through the nations. 

The Testaments of the twelve Patriarchs are supposed 
by the learned Cave to have been written about the year 
192. They contain several declarations concerning the 
dignity of our blessed Saviour, which are in perfect accor- 
dance with those of the rest of the ancient Jews : — 

51. "The Lord shall raise up out of Levi one for a 
High-priest, and out of Judah one for a King, who shall be 
God and Man *. 

52. " The Testament of Zebulon says : — After these 
things the Lord himself shall rise upon you, a light of 
righteousness ; and healing and mercy shall be on his wings : 
he shall redeem all the captives of the sons of men from 
Beliar, and every spirit of error shall be trampled down ; 
and he shall turn all the nations to an emulation of himself, 
and ye shall see God in the figure of man f. 



* Sect, 7. 



t Sect. 9, 



426 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VI. 



53. " The Testament of Nephthali declares, that through 
Judah shall arise salvation to Israel, and in him shall Jacob 
be blessed; for, through his sceptre, shall appear God 
divelling among men on earth, to save the race of Israel *. 

54. The Testament of Ashur says :— The Most High 
shall visit the earth, even he himself coming as a man, eat- 
ing and drinking with men, and calmly bruising the head 
of the serpent by water ; he shall save Israel, and all the 
nations, God in the mask of man f . 

55. The Testament of Benjamin contains these remark- 
able sentiments Then shall we also rise, each one on his 
sceptre, worshipping the King of heaven, who appeared 
upon earth in the form of man, in a state of humiliation \ 
and as many as believed on him upon earth, shall rejoice 
together with him. And all shall rise, these indeed to glory, 
but those to dishonour. And the Lord shall judge Israel 
first, even for their iniquity to him, because they believed 
not in God, when he came to them in the flesh as a deli- 
verer ; and then shall he judge all the nations, as many as 
believed not in him, when he appeared upon earth J. 

56. R. Jonathan paraphrases — and the Spirit of God 
moved on the face of the waters, — the Spirit of mercies, 
who is from before the Lord, standing upon the face of the 
waters §. 

57. "Bereschit Rabba, speaking of the Spirit that 
moved upon the face of the waters, expressly affirms, This 
is the Spirit of Messiah the King ||. 

58. The author of the Jewish book called the Zohar, 
who is said to have been Rabbi Simeon, has many expres- 
sions which have a plain allusion to a plurality in the Di- 
vine Nature. We read, for instance, that he called Rabbi 
Eleasar his son, and made him sit down by him, and Rabbi 
Abba his scholar on the other side of him ; and then said 
We are now the type of all that is. 

59. Again : — I say, that all the lamps are lighted from 
one lamp, which is the supreme one, and altogether latent. 
All the lights are united in one ; the second light is in the 
first light, and the other light in the same. They light 

* Sect. 8. | Sect. 7. J Sect. 10, § See Scott's Christian 
Life, vol. 3, notes at the end. J| Ibid. 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Ancient Jews. 427 

through one and other, and are undivided one from the 
other. — For he and his name are one. For the King him- 
self is the most inward light ; and that light which makes 
manifest is called his garment. Now there are two lamps 
which shine from the King's throne within 5 and they are 
called justice and judgment. These are the beginning and 
consummation of all things, by whom all things both above 
and below are crowned, arid these are sometimes called 
Melchisedec, that is, the King who is the king of righteous- 
ness and king of peace. 

60. Again : —None knows the Supreme Wisdom but 
himself. He enjoys one uninterrupted tenure of joy, and 
is unchangeable in his mercy and goodness to eternity. — 
This most Ancient and holy One reveals himself as one 
that has three heads, which are yet all within one head. — 
He himself is the supreme head properly, that includes the 
three heads. But in another respect he is denoted by a 
Trinity 3 and all the lamps which shine are included in this 
Trinity *. 

61. R. Simeon Ben Joachi in the Zohar speaks in this 
manner : — Come and see the mystery of the word Elohim : 
there are three degrees, and every degree by itself alone ; 
and yet notwithstanding they are all one, and joined toge- 
ther in one ; and are not divided one from another f. 

62. Rittangelius, who had been a Jewish Rabbi, but 
was converted to Christianity, has attempted to prove from 
the book Tykunim, and other talmudical tracts, that the 
ancient Jews owned these things in relation to the Messiah, 
namely, that he is the supreme wisdom, proceeding from 
the Father by eternal and ineffable generation — that he is 
the true Saviour of mankind — that in order to this he must 
descend into this world — that by the power of the Holy 
Spirit he must assume a human body, and be united to 
the human nature — that he must die for the redemption 
of men, and then go down into the place of the dead — that 
he must free the souls of men from the slavery of the de- 
vil — that he must rise again from the dead, and ascend into 
heaven — and that he must judge the world at last J. 

* See Fleming's Christoiogy, p. 136, &c: t Ainsworth on the first 
of Genesis, % De Verit. Rel. Christ, p. 45, &c, 



428 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VI. 



63. Again : — "There is a man— who is not simply cal- 
led a man, but the first 1 man, and the supreme of all 
men; the supreme crown, the hidden and occult — the 
cause of causes, the beginning of all beginnings. Of this 
first man it is said, Then I was by him, as one brought 
up with him; and I was daily his delight ; rejoicing 
always before him; rejoicing in the habitable part of his 
earth, and my delights ivere with the sons of men. And 
this first man it was, Who said, Let us make man in 
our image, after our liketiess. So that this man is the 
Wisdom," &c* 

64. The Jewish book called Imre Binah informs us, that 
- c there are three prime and primordial heads, and co-eter- 
nal, and this their own light testifies ; and the intellectual 
numerations do eternally testify the Trinity of the King f." 

65. Moses the son of Nehemannus, who lived in the 
twelfth century, gives the following account of the Messias, 
as he is quoted by Masius upon the fifth chapter of Joshua. 
" That Angel, to speak the truth, is the Angel Redeemer, 
of whom it is written, because my name is in him ; this, I 
say, is that Angel, who said unto Jacob, / am the God of 
Bethel, He is also that Angel, of whom it is said, And 
God called to Moses out of the bush ; for he is called the 
Angel, because he governs the world ; wherefore it is writ- 
ten, Jehovah, that is, the Lord God, brought us out of 
Egypt. And elsewhere, He sent his Angel and brought 
us out of Egypt. Besides, it is written, And the Angel of 
his face saved them. Of this Angel it is also said, My 
presence shall go before the camp of Israel, and shall cause 
it to rest. Lastly, this is the Angel of whom the prophet 
speaks, The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to 
his temple ; the Angel of the covenant, tvhom ye de- 
sire %? 

66. The Jewish book Res chit Chocmah says, " There 
are three Gods, as it is explained in the words of the book 
Zohar. R. Jose said, What is the meaning of those words, 
Deut. 4. 7. to whom the Gods are near, whereas it should 
have been said, to whom God is near; but there is the 
superior God, there is the God of the fear of Isaac, and there 

* Ibid. p. 54, t Rittangelius in Jezirah, p. 3, and 36. 

* See Scott's Christian Life, vol. 3. notes at the end, 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Ancient Jews, 429 

is the inferior God ; and so they are said to be Gods that 
are near*." 

67. Another Jewish book, entitled Midrasch Tillim, 
makes mention of " THREE proprieties or persons by 
whom the world was made\." 

68. R. Phineas says, that "the Holy Spirit rested 
upon Joseph from his youth till the day of his death J." 

69. Again :— " After they were all slain/' saith the 
same Rabbi, 66 the Holy Spirit rested twenty years upon 
Ezekiel in Babylon, and led him forth into the valley of 
Dora, and shewed him a great number of bones 

70. Some ancient Cabalists distinguish God into three 
lights, which some of them call by the same names we 
Christians do, namely, Father, Son, or Word, and Holy 
Ghosts 

The celebrated Grotius has given us his opinion of these 
matters in various parts of his writings. He says, " There 
is no more reason w r hy the worshipping many Gods should 
be objected against the Christians, than against Philo the 
Jew, who often affirms that there are three things in God ; 
and he calls the Reason or Word of God, the Name of God, 
the Maker of the world ; not unbegotten as is God the 
Father of all ; nor yet begotten in like manner as men are. 
The same is likewise called the Angel, or the Ambassador, 
who takes care of the universe, by Philo himself : and by 
Moses the son of Nehem annus : Or against the Cabbalists 
who distinguish God into three lights, and some of them by 
the same name as the Christians do of the Father, Son, or 
Word, and Holy Ghost. And to take that, which is chiefly 
allowed amongst all the Hebrews ; that Spirit by which the 
prophets were moved, is not any created thing, and yet is 
distinguished from him that sent it ; as likewise that which 
is commonly called the Shechinah. " Now many ot the 
Hebrews have this tradition, that that Divine power, which 
they call Wisdom, should dwell in the Messiah whence the 
Chaldee paraphrast calls the Messiah, the Word of God; as 
the Messiah is also called by David, and others, by the 
venerable name of God, and also of the Lord ||." 

* Vosin, in Proem. Pug. Fid. t Martin Raimund, Pug. Fid, p, 396. 
} See Scott's Christian Life, vol. 3. notes at the end. € Ibid„ 
jj Grotius de Veritate, book 5. sect 21. 



430 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VI. 



71. In Tanchuma, a famous book among the Jews, is 
a passage to this effect ; that Jesus Christ, whom they call 
wicked Balaam, taught that he was God : and R. Tanchuma 
argues, that he was a mere man *. - 

72. In the grand council of Jews assembled at Ageda 
in Hungary, A. D. 1650, they easily agreed to these three 
particulars. 1st. That the Messiah will appear as a great 
conqueror, and deliver them from all foreign yoke. 2dly. 
That he will alter nothing in the Mosaic religion. 3dly. 
That he will be born of a virgin ; and that this his miracu- 
lous birth is to be a characteristic by which he shall be 
known to those who are strangers to the covenant f . 

73. The learned Jews know well, that that prayer, 
which in the Christian countries is called the prayer against 
the Sadduces, and in other countries the prayer against the 
Minnim, the heretics and apostates, was truly and originally 
written against the Christians, for being teachers of a Trinity, 
and of Christ's divinity. This prayer was composed under 
R. Gamaliel, who died, A. D. 52 %. 

74. In that wretched fiction of Jewish malignity, which 
is entitled Tholedoth Jesu, or the Generations of Jesus, a 
kind of anti-gospel, published by Huldrik; they state our 
Saviour and his Disciples to have taught, that he was God, 
born of a Virgin, w T ho had conceived him by the Holy 
Ghost §. 

75. Josephus, the celebrated Jewish historian, lived in 
the apostolic age. He, though an unbeliever, has spoken 
of our blessed Saviour as being a person very extraordinary. 
If the passage is genuine, it seems to imply, that even those 
who rejected the mission of our Saviour, had some suspicion 
he was more than a mere man : — Now, says he, there was 
about this time Jesus, a w T ise man; if it be lawful to call 

* Allix's Judgment, p. 430. 
t Universal History, vol. 11. p. 142. See Jamieson's Vindication, 
vol, 1. p. 88, 89. where it appears the Jews had some notion their Messiah 
should be miraculously conceived. To this purpose they applied Jer. 31. 
21, where it is said, The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, A 
woman shall compass a ?nan* This is a strong presumptive argument that 
Dr. Blayney is mistaken in giving a different meaning to the passage. 
See his translation of the place, and compare Pearson on the Creed, Art. 
3. p. 1T1. 

$ Allix's Jud. p. 431. § Whit. Origin of Arianism Disclosed, p. 7. 



sect. 2. Testimonies of the Ancient Jews. 431 

him a man : for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher 
of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. — He was 
Christ* . 

76. Dr. Lightfoot gives us the articles of a believing 
Jew's creed collected out of the law of Moses, in the man- 
ner following : — 1. I believe that salvation is by faith, not 
by works. — 2. 1 believe that there is no salvation without re- 
conciliation with God, and no reconciliation without satis- 
faction. — 3. I believe that satisfaction shall once be made. 
— 4. I believe that satisfaction for sin shall be made by a 
man. — 5. I believe that he shall be more than a man. — 6. 
I believe that the Redeemer must also be God as well as 
man. — 7- I believe that man's Redeemer shall die to make 
satisfaction. — 8. I believe that he shall not die for his own 
sins, but for man's. — 9. I believe that he shall overcome 
death. — 10. I believe to be saved by laying hold upon his 
meritsf 

Nothing can be clearer from all these testimonies, than 
that the Jews, prior to, and about the time of, our Saviour, 
entertained ideas of a triplicity of the Divine Nature. 

This is fully proved by Dr. Allix in the learned work 
before so often mentioned, and granted by a celebrated So- 
cinian of the last age. He says in his Historical Vindica- 
tion of the Naked Gospel, that the Platonic enthusiasm 
crept first into the Jewish, afterwards into the Christian 
church. Then he tells his readers how the Jews picked up 
their Platonism ; of which he says, the principal doctrines 
were two ; the one, that of the pre-existence of souls ; the 
other, that of the Divine Trinity. These, he says, were the 
opinions of the Jews in the days of our Saviour and his 
Apostles. See Bishop Horsley's Tracts, p, 217- 

The learned reader will find the same thing treated pro- 
fessedly, and with great ability, by Galatinus in his twelve 
books De Arcanis Catholiccs Veritatis. The doctrine of 
the Cabbalists is treated at large by Reuchlinus in his three 
books De Arte Cabbalistica. 

# The genuineness of this passage has been questioned by several re- 
spectable scholars. 

t Works, vol. 1 p. 713, See Bradley's Impartial View of the Truth 
of Christianity, p, 156. 



432 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. PART VII. 



PART SEVENTH. 



SECTION I, 



OPINIONS OF THE HEATHEN CONCERNING THE PLURALITY 
OF THE DIVINE NATURE. 



Philosophers of all nations seem to have had some notion 
of a Trinity. — General view of their Opinions.— Zo- 
roaster asserted three principles in the Divine Na- 
ture. — Ancient Persians and Egyptians had their 
Trinity. — Cavern of Elephanta. — Sentiments of Or- 
pheus — Pythagoras — Epicharmus — Parmenides- — Eu- 
polis, fyc. — A Trinity among the idolatrous Romans. 
— Appearances of a Triple Deity among the nations 
of Europe in ancient times. 

We proposed in the next place to produce the opinions 
of the learned Heathen concerning the nature of the Divine 
Being. Much satisfactory information, one should suppose, 
could not be expected from this quarter. Their ideas can- 
not be very distinct upon a subject so deep and mysterious 
as that of the Sacred Trinity. Unassisted reason can afford 
little information here. All their knowledge of the subject 
must have been derived from tradition, from the writings of 
Moses and the Prophets * 5 or from conversation had with 

* «* What Socrates said of him, what Plato writ, and the rest of the 
Heathen philosophers of several nations, is all no move than the twilight 



sect. 1. Opinions of the Ancient Heathens, 433 

the Jews in their dispersion. How they came by their in- 
telligence we know little for certain. Certain, however, it 
is, that the Gentile nations were no strangers to the distinc- 
tions in the Godhead at a very early period of the world. 
Their notions of this kind are to be traced so far back ; that 
we are lost in the abyss of time, and can only say, that the 
Heathens were possessed of the idea of a distinction in the 
Deity from time immemorial *. And jhis is a strong pre- 
sumption, that the doctrine of the Trinity was either an 
original revelation to mankind, or that the writings of 
Moses and the Prophets have been interpreted, right or 
wrong, as containing some information concerning it. Be 
this as it may, the most early notice we have from the Hea- 
then of a plurality of persons in the Divine Nature seems 
to be derived from the eastern countries, where the descen- 
dents of Noah first settled. Chaldea and Egypt were the 
original sources of it. Into one or both of these countries 
the Learned of ancient times usually travelled, to gather 
what information they were able concerning arts, laws, 
policy, things human and divine. In these literary peregri- 
nations the Grecian Sages take the lead. Orpheus, Pytha- 
goras, Homer, Plato, and other celebrated persons returned 
from these Universities of the world, full fraught with learn- 
ed stores : and from Greece, that small, but celebrated 

of revelation, after the sun of it was set in the race of Noah." Dryden's 
Preface to his Religio Laici, 

It would be easy to prove, were this a place for it, that most of the 
learning, which was cnltivated among the Heathen, was derived, either 
from tradition, or from revelation, Their mythology was little more than 
a corruption of sacred history. See Bochart's Phaleg et Canaan, Cud- 
worth's Intellectual System, Gale's Court of the Gentiles, Millar's Propa- 
gation of Christianity, Banier's Mythology, Bryant's Ancient Mythology, 
and Maurice's Indian Antiquities, and History of Indostan. 

* " The Philosophers of all nations seem to have had some idea, more 
or less confused, of a certain triplicity in the supreme Unity Christianity 
has unfolded this ancient doctrine. It teaches us, that in the Divine Es- 
sence there is a triple distinction of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit j that the 
actions of the one are not the actions of the other ; that the Father exists 
of himself, independently, as the primitive source of Deity; that the Son 
comes forth from the Father by an incomprehensible generation; and the 
Holy Spint from both by an inconceiveable procession ; and lastly, that 
these two emanations from the Divinity are necessary, co-eternal, con- 
substantial, infinite, and in ail things equal to the Father, his independance 
only excepted." Ramsay's Discourse upon the Theology and Mythology 
of the Pagans, p. 172. 

Pf 



434 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VII 



country, they disseminated the seeds of religion, liberty, and 
laws, through all the neighbouring nations, the benefits of 
which we enjoy at this day. 

There is a good general view of the sentiments of the 
Heathen concerning the Trinity in Reeve's edition of Cham- 
ber's Cyclopaedia, which I shall here transcribe. Many of 
the Heathen, says this vast repository of science, seem to 
have had a notion of a Trinity. Steuch. Eugub. de Peren. 
Philos. lib. 1. cap. 3. observes, that there is nothing in all 
theology more deeply grounded, or more generally allowed 
by them, than the mystery of the Trinity. The Chaldaeans, 
Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans, both in their writings, 
and their oracles, acknowledged that the Supreme Being 
had begot another Being from all eternity, which they some- 
times called the Son of God, sometimes the Word, some- 
times the Mind, and sometimes the wisdom of God, and 
asserted it to be the creator of all things. 

Among the sayings of the Magi, the descendents of 
Zoroaster, this is one, Uuvra i%i-i\i<jz waruf xa* m wo^wxa 
$tvre§v — The father finished all things, and delivered them to 
the Second Mind. The Egyptians called their Trinity, 
hemptba, and represented it by a globe, a serpent, and a 
wing, disposed into one hieroglyphic symbol. Kircher, 
Gale, &c. suppose the Egyptians learned their doctrine of a 
Trinity from Joseph and the Hebrews. 

The philosophers, says St. Cyril, owned three hypos- 
tases, or persons ; they have extended their divinity to 
three persons, and even sometimes used the word Trias 
Trinity : they wanted nothing but to admit the consubstan- 
tiality of the three hypostases, to signify the unity of the 
Divine Nature, in exclusion of all triplicity with regard to 
difference of nature ; and not to hold it necessary to con- 
ceive any inferiority of hypostases. 

We learn from Dr. Cud worth, that, besides the inferior 
Gods, generally received by all the Pagans, viz. animated 
stars, daemons, and heroes, the more refined of them, who 
accounted not the world the supreme deity, acknowledged a 
Trinity of divine hypostases superior to them all. This 
doctrine, according to Plotinus, is very ancient, and ob- 
■ scurely asserted, even by Parmenides. Some have referred 
its origin to the Pythagoreans, and others to Orpheus, who 



•sect. 1. Opinions of the Ancient Heathen, 4&5 

adopted three principals, called Phanes, Uranus, and Cronus, 
Dr. Cudwoith apprehends, that Pythagoras and Orpheus 
derived this doctrine from the theology of the Egyptian 
Herms, and, as it is not probable, that it should have been 
rst discovered by human reason, he concurs with Proclus 
n affirming, that it was at first a theology of divine tradition 
or revelation, imparted first to the Hebrews., and from them 
communicated to the Egyptians and other nations ; among 
whom it was depraved and adulterated. Cudw. Intell. 
System, b. 1. eh. 4. — Plato, and some other of his followers, 
speak of a Trinity in such terms, that the primitive fathers 
have been accused of borrowing the very doctrine from the 
Platonic school ; but T. Mourgues, who has examined the 
point asserts, that nothing can be more stupid than to sup- 
pose the Platonic Trinity brought into the church ; and to 
have recourse to the Platonism of the fathers to discredit 
their authority with regard to this dogma *. 

1. Zoroaster seems to have been the first in the eastern 
countries, who entertained an idea of three principals exist- 
ing in the Divine Nature. He lived in a very early period 
of the world, but when, it is not certain. His opinions are, 
indeed, delivered in very obscure terms; but in terms 
sufficiently clear to establish the proposition before us, that 
the Heathen nations had an idea of a Trinity from time im- 
memorial. The following are some of the oracles of this 
celebrated man, or his disciples, which have come down to 
own times : — ■ 

Where the paternal Monad is. 
The Monad is enlarged which generates Two, 
For the Dyad sits by him, and shines with intellectual sections. 
For in the whole world there shines a Tri?iittj 7 of which an Unity is the 
head. 

This order is the beginning of all section ; 

For the mind of the Father commanded, that all things be cut into 
three. 

Whose will assented, and then all things were divided; 
For the Father perfected all things, and delivered them over to the 
second mind ? which the whole race of men call the first. 

* These, with several other oracles, are delivered down to 
us, as the sayings of this Chaldaic philosopher, by the 



* Article Trinity. 
F f 2 



436 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VII. 



Grecian writers. Most of them are obscure enough to be 
sure ; but that which declares, In the whole world there 
shines a Trinity, of which an Unity in the principle, is very 
remarkable, and has generally been understood as conveying 
a strong idea of the doctrine of the Holy and Undivided 
Trinity by Christian divines. Nor is the last less remark- 
able, which asserts, that the Father perfected all things, 
and delivered them over to the second mind. 

It is certain, that long before Christianity appeared in 
the world, there was a very ancient tradition, both among 
Jews and Heathens, concerning three real differences or 
distinctions in the Divine Nature, very nearly resembling 
the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Where this tradition 
had its original is not easy, upon good and certain grounds, 
to say ; but certain it is, that the Jews anciently had this 
notion : and that they did distinguish the Word of God, and 
the Holy Spirit of God, from him, who was absolutely cal- 
led God, and whom they looked upon as the first principle 
of all things ; as is plain from Philo Judesus, and Moses 
Nachmanides, and others cited by the learned Grotius in his 
incomparable book of the Truth of the Christian religion *, 

2. Among the ancient Persians we find some indubitable 
traces of the doctrine of a Trinity, in their three great dei- 
ties, Oromasdes, Mithra, and Ahriman. This was the Per- 
sian Triad, of which Mithra was the middle God, and called 
the Mediator. This notion of the Persian Trinity is con- 
firmed by a passage in Plutarch in his treatise de Iside et 
Osiride, where he declares — " Zoroaster is said to have 
made a threefold distribution of things : to have assigned 
the first and highest rank to Oromasdes, who, in the oracles, 
is called the Father ; the lowest to Ahrimanes ; and the 
middle to Mithras, who, in the same oracles, is called the 
second mind." 

3. The Egyptians called their Trinity Hemptha, and 
represented it by a globe, a serpent, and a wing, dis- 
posed into one hieroglyphic symbol, according to the cus- 
tom of that country. Some persons have supposed, that 
they learned their doctrine of a Trinity from Joseph, and 
the ancient Hebrews, who resided so long among them. 



* Tillotscn, Sermon 48. 



sect.1. Opinion^ of the Ancient Heathen, 437 



The Egyptians asserted but one supreme, unmade Deity, 
yet agreeably to the Orphic, the Pythagorean, and Platonic 
Triad, which, it is very probable, was derived from them, 
they hold a kind of Triplicity or Trinity in the same Divine 
Essence, whose several hypostases, or persons, they dis- 
tinguished by some one or other of these names, Hamman, 
Neith, Isis, Serapis, Eicton, Emeph, or Cneph, and Phtha. 
The first whereof was an indivisible unity, which they termed 
Eicton ; the second a perfect mind converting its intellec- 
tions into itself, which they termed Emeph, or Cneph ; the 
third an immediate principle of generation, which they call- 
ed by any of the other names, according to its several 
powers, as Hammon, Osiris, Phtha, and the like. Accord- 
ingly Athanasius Kircher tells us, that in the Pamphilian 
obelisk, that the first hieroglyphic of a winged globe with a 
serpent coming out of it, was the Egyptian hieroglyphic of 
a triform Deity, or Trinity of the divine hypostases ; which 
he confirms by the testimony of Abenephius an Arabian 
writer, and a Chaldaic fragment imputed to Sanchuniathon ; 
the globe being said to signify the first incomprehensible 
Deity, self-existent, and without beginning or end ; the 
serpent signifying the divine wisdom and creative virtue : 
lastly the wings denoting that active spirit, which cherish- 
eth, quickeneth, and enliveneth all things. To this account 
have subscribed St. Cyril, A Stenchus Eugubinus, &c. the 
latter citing for this purpose this passage out of Damascius, 
that, according to the Egyptians, the first principle of all 
was darkness, above all knowledge and understanding, or 
unknown darkness, they thrice repeating the same/' Wise's 
Abridgment of Cudworth, p. 102. See Cud worth himself, 
p. 413, &c. 

Michaelis also observes, that the Egyptian philosophers 
did not fall in with all the superstition of the people^ 
but worshipped one supreme and first God, whom thev 
called in Greek Eis, THE ONE. Jamblicus, in his 
book de Mysteriis iEgyptorum, sect. 8. c. 2. writes thus 
concerning the Deity ; before all things that exist, and 
before the first original beings (meaning the spirits who 
created the world) there is one God. — He is prior to the 
first God (meaning his Son) and to the King \ he is niove- 

f f 2 



438 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. PART VII. 



able, and continues in the solitude of his unity. This only 
God was worshipped far and near in the eastern countries, 
and they intermixed superstition in their worship of him. — 
Jamblicus writes of him in the place before quoted — From 
this One, that God who is his own original kindled himself ; 
wherefore he is also called his own Father, and his own 
Origin." 

(A Christian cannot assert the eternal divinity of the 
Son of God in stronger terms.) For he is the original 
Being, and the God of gods, One of One, before any thing 
existed, and before the beginning of existence. For from 
him comes the possibility of being, and being itself, whence 
he is also called the beginning of things imaginable. ,> 
Michaelis Introduc. Lectures to the N. T. sect. 100 *. 

One of the most remarkable representations of the triune 
God that is now known is to be seen in the cavern of Ele- 
phanta, one of the most ancient and venerable temples in 
the world. It is very large, and composed of three heads 
united to one body, dedicated to the Creator, Preserver, and 
Regenerator of mankind f. 

4. Orpheus, the Thracian, lived about 1200 years, more 
or less, before our Saviour. He, likewsie, speaks more fully 
and distinctly of the Divine Nature, than could be expected, 
at so early a period. How he came by his information, we 
are no where informed for certain. He strongly, however, 
asserts three principals in the Godhead, and calls the second 
the Divine Word, and Immortal King %. — Again : — " I 
adjure thee, the Voice of the Father, which he first spoke, 
when he established the whole world by his counsels §." — 
And again . — " All things were made by one Godhead in 
three names, and this God is all things." 

It is clear, says Jamieson, that Orpheus asserted a Tri- 
nity, under the names of Phanes, Uranus, and Chronus; 
one of these he called wgoToyovoj ©so? the Jirst begotten God, 

* Consult Maurice's Indian Antiquities, vol. 4. page 690, &c. 

t See a plate of this image in Maurice's Indian Antiquities, vol. f, with 
some account of it in the same work, vol. 4. p. 736, See. 

X Ramsay informs us, that the doctrine of the primitive perfection of 
nature, its fall and its restoration by a Hero, are equally manifest in the 
Mythologies of the Greeks, Egyptians,, Persians, Indians, and Chinese. 
Discourse, p. 217. • 

Justin Martyr, p. 16: 



sect. 1. Opinions of the Ancient Heathen, 439 

Wolfius asserts from Damascius, that Orpheus introduced a 
Triform Deity. Timotheus, the chronographer, affirms, 
that Orpheus had long ago declared, that all things were 
made hy a co-essential or consubstantial Trinity. He uses 
the three names, Light, Counsel, and Life ; and asserts, 
that by these three all things were made. He also speaks 
of the Divine Word, and recommends a fixed adherence to 
it*. 

5. Pythagoras, who flourished near 600 years before the 
birth of Christ, spoke much concerning three principals, and 
is supposed to have learned the doctrine from the Egyptian 
priests, amongst whom he lived twenty-two years ; or else 
from the followers of Zoroaster in the East, where he re- 
sided twelve years. He was the chief propagator of that 
doctrine amongst the Greeks, concerning three hypostases 
in the Deity. 

6. Epicharmus, the Pythagorean philosopher, lived 
about 450 years before the Christian sera, yet he speaks of 
the Logos in very strong terms as the author of reason to 
man : — 

If men have powers of reason, they have too 
The heavenly Logos ; for life's changeful scenes 
Was reason planted in the frame of men ; 
The heavenly Logos waits on all their arts, 
Himself suggesting what they ought to do. 
For man invented not a single art, 
For 'tis the God who first produces it ; 
And man's own reason planted was in man, 
By the great Logos and his hand divine t. 

7. Parmenides was a Greek philosopher of the Pytha- 
gorean sect, who flourished at Elis about 440 years before 
Christ. Plotinus tells us, that he was one of them that 
asserted the TRIAD of divine hypostases. 

See Cudworth's Intell. System, p. 386, &c. and p. 546, 
&c. — See also the same Work, p. 22. I will subjoin what 
this very skilful Divine has advanced in a sort of compen- 
dium in the preface -There was, says he, a double Platonic 
Trinity ; the one spurious and adulterated, of some latter 

* Vindication, vol. 1, p, 95. 
t See Clemens Alexandrinus and Eusebius's Evang. Prepar. But the 
above translation is taken from Mr, Whitaker's Origin of Arianism Dis» 
closed, p. 128, 129, 



440 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VII. 



Platonists ; the other true and genuine, of Plato himself, 
Parmenides, and the Ancients. The former of which, 
though it be opposed by us to the Christian Trinity, and 
confuted ; yet betwixt the latter and that, do we find a 
wonderful correspondence ; which is largely pursued in the 
Platonic Christian's Apology : Wherein notwithstanding 
nothing must be looked upon as dogmatically asserted by 
us, but only offered and submitted to the judgment of the 
learned in these matters ; we confining ourselves in this 
mysterious point of the Holy Trinity within the compass of 
those its Three Essentials declared : — -First, That it is not a 
Trinity of mere names and words, or ol logical notions only ; 
but of Persons or Hypostases : Secondly, That none of those 
Persons or Hypostases are creatures, but all uncreated : 
And Lastly, That they are all Three, truly and really One 
God. Nevertheless we acknowledge, that we did therefore 
the more copiously insist upon this argument, because of 
our then designed Defence of Christianity ; we conceiving, 
that this parallelism, betwixt the ancient or genuine Pla- 
tonic, and the Christian Trinity, might be of some use to 
satisfy those among us, who boggle so much at the Trinity, 
and look upon it as the choak-pear of Christianity ; when 
they shall find, that the freest wits among the Pagans, and 
the best philosophers, who had nothing of superstition to 
determine them that way, were so far from being shy of such 
an hypothesis, as that they were even fond thereof. And 
that the Pagans had indeed such a Cabbala amongst them 
(which some perhaps will hardly yet believe, notwithstand- 
ing all that we have said,) might be further convinced, 
from that memorable relation in Plutarch, of Thespesius 
Solensis, who, after he had been looked upon as dead for 
three days, reviving, affirmed amongst other things, which 
he thought he saw or heard in the mean time in his ecstasy, 
this, Of Three Gods in the form of a triangle, pouring in 
streams into one another ; Orpheus's soul being said to 
have arrived so far ; accordingly as from the testimonies of 
other Pagan writers we have proved, that a Trinity of Divine 
Hypostases was a part of the Orphic Cabbala. True indeed, 
our belief of the Holy Trinity is founded upon no Pagan 
Cabbalas, but only Scriptural Revelation; it being that 
which Christians are, or should be, all baptized unto : ne- 



sect. 1. Opinions of the Ancient Heathen. 441 

vertheless these things are reasonably noted by us to this 
end ; that that should not be made a prejudice against 
Christianity and Revealed religion ; nor looked upon as such 
an affrightful bugbear or mormo in it; which even Pagan 
philosophers themselves, and those of the most accomplished 
intellectuals, and uncaptivated minds, though Jiaving neither 
councils, nor creeds, nor scriptures } had so great a propen- 
sity and readiness to entertain, and such a veneration for *. 

8. Socrates speaks of a person whom he expected to 
appear upon earth to instruct mankind ; one that should 
enlighten their minds ; and one that should have a wonder- 
ful readiness and willingness to make men virtuous, whom 
he even calls the Divine Logos f . 

9. Eupolis, in his Hymn to the Creator, has the same> 
ideas : — 

And yet a greater hero far 
(Unless great Socrates could err) 
Shall rise to bless some future day, 
And teach to live, and teach to pray, 
Come, unknown instructor, come ! 
Our leaping hearts shall make thee room;- 
Thcu w;th Jove our vows shalt share, 
Of Jove and Thee we are the care. 

It should seem from hence (if this is a just translation, 
for I have not seen the original,) that the Heathen expected 
the person, who was to come into the world to instruct man- 
kind in the will of God, was to be more than man, and was 
to share divine honours with the supreme Deity. 

10. Plato, the most celebrated of all the Grecian phi- 
losophers, flourished about 100 years before the birth of our 
Saviour. He began to write when the prophets ceased in 
Israel. His sentiments on religion, are in the main, very 
pure and excellent ; and his opinions on the subject now 
under consideration bear a striking resem blance to the doc- 
trine of the Christian Trinity J, Porphyry says, that Plato 
extended the Divine Essence into three Hypostases, the 
supreme God being called Optimus, and after him a second, 
God, the Maker of all things §. Plato himself bids us 

* Pages 11, 12. t Vide Plato in Alcibiade et in Phced, 
+ See this matter ably discussed in Cudworth's luteHecUal Systejpj 
p. 546, &q. § Apud Cyril, cout, Jml. 1. 1. p. 34. 



442 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VII. 



swear by God, who is the governor of all things, and by the 
Father of him, who is the ruler and the cause *. Again : — 
Speaking of the Son of God, he says, The most Divine 
Word framed this universe, and rendered it visible. And 
that man, who is truly happy, first admires this Word, and 
is afterward inflamed with a desire of learning all that can 
be known by a mortal nature, being convinced that this is 
the only way to lead a happy life here below, and after 
death to arrive at those places that are prepared for virtue ; 
where he shall be truly initiated and united with wisdom, 
and always enjoy the most wonderful discoveries. Again : — 
Writing to Hermias, Erastus, and Coriseus, he says, You 
must read my letter all three together ; and that you may 
profit by it, you ought to implore the assistance of God, the 
sovereign Lord of all things, that either are or shall be ; and 
the Father of this Sovereign, who is the cause of beings. 
If we are truly philosophers, we shall know this God as 
clearly as blessed men are capable of knowing him. He 
writes in the manner following to young Dionysius : — I 
must declare to Archedemus, that which is much more pre- 
cious and divine, and which you have a very ardent desire 
to know ; since you sent expressly to me on that account. 
For, as far as I understand by him, you do not believe I 
have sufficiently explained what I think of the nature of the 
first principle. I must write of this to you in enigmas, 
that if my letter should be intercepted by sea or land, he 
that reads it may not be able to comprehend any thing. All 
things are round about their King ; they exist by him, and 
he alone is the cause of good things : Second for second 
things, and third for third f. 

11. Aristotle made a declaration just before his death, 
concerning the reasonableness of believing, that the Gods 
would come down from heaven, to instruct and relieve man- 
kind J. 

12. Zeno, father of the Stoics, who flourished about 
250 years before Christ, determines the Logos to be the 
Creator and Adjuster of every thing in nature ; and affirms 
the same Logos to be called by the name of Fate, God, 

* Eph. 6. p. 1276. These three passages are taken from Dacier's 
Life of Plato, p, 139, 140, % Bishop Law's Theory of Religion, p. 114. 



sect. 1. Opinions of the Ancient Heathen. 443 

Mind of Jove, and Necessity of all things *. He saith in 
another place : — There are two principles of all things, 
matter, which is the patient, and the efficient, God the 
Word, which being eternal, goes through all matter, form- 
ing eveiy thing f. 

13. Some learned men have found a Trinity of Divine 
Hypostases even among the idolatrous Romans, in an early 
period of their state. The Romans are supposed to have 
received the idea from the Phrygians, the Phrygians from 
the Samothracians, and the Samothracians from the He- 
brews. " The first of these Divine hypostases, called Jove, 
being the fountain of the Godhead ; and the second of them, 
called by the Latins Minerva, fitly expressing the Divine 
Logos ; and the third Juno, called the Love and Delight 
of Jove, well enough answering to the Divine Spirit." 

14. Cicero says, that the most ancient of these Cabiri, 
who, according to Herodotus, had a temple at Memphis, 
were in number three, and their names Tretopatrceus, Eu- 
buleus, and Dionysius. They were esteemed as the three 
mighty guardian genii of the universe. 

15. There were various other appearances of a Triple 
Deity to be met with among the nations of Europe in ancient 
times. The triple images called He&ruscan, are proofs of 
this assertion. In Gaul and in Germany have been found 
deities in triple groups. And I do not know whether we 
may not attribute to the same tradition of a triune God se- 
veral other classes of the number three among the Greeks 
and Romans. They had their three fates ; three furies; 
three graces ; and, according to Varro, three celestial 
?nuses. 



* Tertuliian's Apol, t A pud Laert. 1. 7, 



444 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VII. 



PART SEVENTH. 



SECTION II. 



OPINIONS OP THE MODERN HEATHEN CONCERNING THE 
PLURALITY OF THE DIVINE NATURE. 



Opinions of Virgil: — Of Seneca: — Of Simon Magus. — 
Bishop Bull's Observation. — Pliny's Declarations. — 
Infer ance from Lucians Ridicule.- — Important conces- 
sion of Socinus. — Opinions of Adrian: — OfCelsus :■ — 
Of Severus Alexander: — Of Numenius! — Of Plo- 
tinus : — Of Amelius : — Of 'Porphyry r , 8$c. — The Scan- 
dinavian religion inculcates the worship of a Triple 
Deity : — Mexican Indians entertained the same notion. 

Hindoos adore Three principle Deities. The 

sentiment of a Triune Deity prevailed over the 
Tartarian deserts. — The Chinese maintained and be- 
lieved a Trinity in Unity. The Inhabitants of 

Otaheite have some idea of such a Deity. — Summary 
of the Heathens opinion upon the subject from the 
Bishop of Rochester's Tracts. — The Value of such 
Testimonies. 

Virgil lived in the time of Augustus, and was con- 
temporary with our Saviour. Instructed, as is generally 
allowed, by the writings of the Sybils, he hath spoken such 
things of some extraordinary child just then born, as are 
applicable to no merely human Being : 



sect. 2. Opinions of Modem Heathens. 445 

1 7« " Now a new progeny is sent from lofty heaven.' — 
H<s shall receive the life of Gods; and shall see heroes 
mixed with Gods, and he himself shall he seen of them : 
and he shall rule the peaceful world with his Father's 
virtues. — Dear offspring of the Gods, the mighty son of 
Jove. *" 

18. Seneca, the tragedian, hath nearly the same ideas 
with the above of Virgil. In speaking of the primitive 
state of the world he says : — " Then virgin Justice, spouse 
of the great God, sent from heaven, with holy Fidelity, 
governed the earth with sweetness, f" 

19. Seneca, the Stoic philosopher, and tutor of Nero, 
was born about the same time with our Saviour. It appears 
from his Consolatio, that he was no stranger to the doctrine 
of the Holy Trinity. His words are, speaking of the mis- 
fortune that had befallen Helvia: — "It was done, believe 
me, by him, whosoever he was, that formed the universe, 
whether that God is the Almighty, or whether the imma- 
terial principle of Reason, the Artificer of his amazing 
works, or whether it was the Divine Spirit, which is 
diffused through all the objects of nature, great and small 
or whether it was fate and the unchangeable concatination 
of causes mutually dependant. \" 

"This theology with other sciences came from Egypt 
to India, where at this day the doctrines of the three per- 
sons of the Deity in one substance, is an essential part of 
the creed of the Bramins, and they call those persons by 
the same names that we do, the Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Ghost. The first, in their language, is Rama, the 
second Visnou, and the third, Crisna. This fact is told in 
a French book written by one Le Croze, entitled, Histoire 
du Christianism des Indes, vol. 2. book 4. p. 48. And 
he relates it upon the credit of one Manuel Godinho, a 
Portuguese, who was in India in the year 1663. And I 
have heard the fact attested by an acquaintance of mine, 
who had been many years in India/' Lord MonboddoV 
Origin and Progress of Language, vol. 5. from the Critical 
Review for December 1791, p. 409. 

* See the fourth Eclogue, passim. t Sen. Frag. Octavias. act, 2, 
t ConsoU ad Helviam, c. 8. 



446 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



Part vii. 



20. Pontius Pilate is said by Eusebius to have informed 
Tiberius, emperor of Rome, "that Christ was already 
believed by many to be God 

21. One of the most early and remarkable foreign testi- 
monies, to the doctrine of the Trinity is that of Simon 
Magus. Irenseus tells us, " that he was by many glorified 
as God, that he taught them he was the same indeed who 
appeared among the Jews as the Son j but, in Samaria, 
descended as the Father; and came into other nations as 
the Holy Ghost ; and that he was the most sublime virtue, 
that is, he who is Father over all f." Bishop Bull observes 
upon this strange pretension : " From whence, I beseech 
you, was that blasphemous declaration of Simon's, that he 
only was the Son who appeared among the Jews, the 
Father who descended in Samaria, and the Holy Ghost 
who came upon the Gentiles ? From whence, I say, was 
it taken, if not from the received doctrine of the church 
concerning the Holy Trinity, God the Father, the Son, and 
the Holy Spirit! ? 

22. In the very beginning of the second century lived 
the celebrated Pliny, who was a judge under the emperor 
Trajan, that put Ignatius to death. He had occasion to 
take the confessions of some revolting Christians, and he 
says they declared unto him, that they were accustomed to 
meet on a certain day before it was light, and, among other 
parts of their worship, sing an hymn to Christ as God. He 
says farther in the same Epistle, that the contagion of this 
superstition had overspread not only cities, but towns and 
country villages. It appears from this testimony of Pliny, 
that the worship of Jesus Christ was common among all 
ranks and degrees of Christians many years before the con- 
version of Justin Martyr to the Christian faith. 

Plin. book 10. Ep. 97. These hymns are called by an 
ancient writer, mentioned by Eusebius, 1. 5. c. 28. psalms. 
" Psalms also," says he, " and hymns of the brethren, 
written by the faithful from the beginning, celebrate Christ 
the Word of God, and pronounce him God. Of this kind, 
no doubt, were the hymns which St. Paul refers to in his 

* Eccl. Hist. lib. 1. cap. 2. + Adv. Hzer. lib. 1- cap. 20. 
* Prim, et Apostol. Tradit. c. 2. s. 4. 



sect. 2. Opinions of Modern Heathens, 447 

Epistle to the Eph. c. 5. 19. Speaking to yourselves in 
psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs — to the Lord ; that 
is, to Christ, Speaking to themselves evidently corresponds 
with that alternate mode of singing among themselves 

23. Lucian, the Heathen, was contemporary with 
Justin Martyr, being born about the year 124. By his ridi- 
culing the worship of the Christians of his own time, it 
appears very satisfactorily, what religious principles were 
entertained among them. For, bringing in a Christian 
instructing a Catechuman, he makes the Catechuman ask 
this question : — " By whom shall I swear ?" And he who 
personates the Christian answers : " By the God that reigns 
on high, the great, immortal, heavenly God ; and the Son of 
the Father; and the Spirit proceeding from the Father, one 
in Three, and Three in One. Consider this to be your 
Jupirer; esteem this to be your God f." Socinus rates this 
testimony of Lucian very highly. His words deserve our 
notice. I never met with any thing, says he, which seems 
more to favour the notion that a Trinity of jiersons in the 
Godhead was in that age the object of belief and worship, 
than this passage from the Dialogue stiled Philopatris J. 
This is an important concession from an adversary. In 
another place this witty Pagan objects to the Christians the 
ivorship of their crucified Tmjjostor^, as he blasphemously 
calls our blessed Saviour; a pretty good proof that he was 
then an object of religious adoration. 

Describing, in another place, his coming into a religious 
assembly, he says, He there heard that prayer, which began 
with the Father, and ended with the song of many names ||. 

Again : — These wretches (the Christians) says he, be- 
lieve the n i selves immortal ; that they shall live forever ; and 
therefore despise death, and yield themselves unto it. Their 
Lawgiver persuaded them that they are all brethren ; and 
therefore when they depart from us, and deny the deities of 
the Greeks, and ivorship their crucified Teacher, and 
frame their lives conformably to his laws, they contemn 
riches, have all things in common, keep their faith. — To 
this day they ivorship that great Man crucified in Palestine. 

* Knowles's Prim. Christ, p. 33, t See nis Philopat. prope finem. 
t Socin. adv. Eutrop, c. 15. p. 689. j| In Proteo. § Philopatris, p. 1128. 



448 



"DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VII. 



Peregrinus learned that wonderful wisdom of the Chris- 
tians. Another oath he has to this purpose : — By the Son, 
him who is from the Father, I will not tell you. — Tell me, 
replies another, and receive the power of telling me from 
tlie Spirit. All these testimonies from an Heathen, who 
lived in so early an age (for he wrote about the year 16*7) 
are extremely valuable. They must strike every attentive 
mind in the manner they affected the celebrated Socinus. 

24. We have another testimony to the worship of Christ 
somewhat similar to that of Pliny. It was written by the 
emperor Adrain to a person who was consul in Egypt in the 
year 134. In this a patriarch of the Jews is said by the 
Emperor to have been urged by one party, to worship Sera- 
pis, and by another, to worship Christ *. 

25. Celsus, the celebrated Epicurean philosopher, flou- 
rished about the year of our Lord 180, and wrote against 
the Christians with much skill and plausibility. The work, 
which he entitled " A true Discourse," is lost \ but various 
parts of it are preserved by Origen, who returned an answer 
with great ability. In one of these passages Celsus, in the 
name of a Jew, whom he personates, charges the Christians 
with finding fault with the Jews for not believing, that 
Christ was God. In another place he says, We agree with 
you Jews, that the Word is the Son of Godf. He objects 
too to the Christians their adoration of our Saviour's God- 
head, and an acknowledgment that Christ is God %. 

26. " Severus Alexander designed to build a temple to 
Christ, and to receive him among the gods ; which is re- 
ported also to have been the intention of Hadrian,, who com- 
manded temples without idols to be erected in every city: 
but he was restrained from his purpose by those, who, on 
consulting the gods, reported that, if he proceeded, all men 
would become Christians, and that every other temple would 
be deserted. — This is the testimony of iElius Lampridius, who 
himself was a Heathen, and strongly implies that Christ 
was worshipped in the days of Severus. He lived about 
230. iElii Lampridii Alex. Sev. 

27. Numenius, a Greek philosopher of the second cen- 

* Vide Whitaker's Origin of Arianism disclosed, p. 277. t Scott's 
Christian Life, vol. 3, notes at the end, % Orig, contra Cel. lib. 3. 



-sect. 2. Opinions of Modern Heathens, 449 

tury, and a Pythagorean, calls the Father the first, and the 
Word the second God *. 

28. Plotinus, the celebrated Platonic philosopher, in the 
third century, speaking of the Logos, says, This nature is 
God, even a second God f. He affirms of the Word, that 
it is not separated from the first God or Father, but of ne- 
cessity is together with him, being separated from him only 
in personality J. The Word is the Be-er, and this Be-er is 
not a dead Be-er, that is, neither life nor mind ; but that 
mind, and life, and Be-er, are the same thing §. Neither 
is this Mind or Word in power ; neither is itself one thing, 
and its knowledge another; but its knowledge is itself ||. — 
The Word is the Son of God, the Child of God, the full, 
beautiful Mind, even the Mind that is full of God The 
same Plotinus hath treated at large of these three Divine 
persons, whom he expressly calls, Three Persons that are 
Principals; assuring us, that these doctrines concerning 
this Divine Trinity were not new, or of yesterday; but were 
anciently, though obscurely taught ; and that what is now 
discovered concerning them is only a farther explication of 
them. But we have faithful witnesses that these doctrines 
were taught of old, and particularly in the writings of Plato 
himself, before whom also Parmenides delivered them **. 

29. Amelius, a third Platonic philosopher of the same 
century, who w 7 as well versed in the doctrine of the Gentiles 
concerning the divine Logos, casting Ins eyes upon John's 
description of the Son of God in the first chapter of his gos- 
pel, doth, with all confidence, pronounce this to be the 
sense of it : — This was that Word, who, according to Hera- 
clitus, existed from eternity, and made all things; and 
whom, by Jupiter ! the Barbarian (John) places in the 
order and dignity of a. principal, declaring him to have been 
with God, and to he God, and that all things were made 
hy him ; and that in him all things that were had life and 
being ; to have descended to bodies, and putiing on flesh, 
to have assumed the form of man; to have afterwards mani- 
fested the majesty of his nature, and returning to resume 

* Apud. St. Cyril. -cont. Jul. lib. 8. f Eiin. 5, I. 5, c, 3. | Ibid 
4 1. 1, c. fi. $ Ibid % 1. 1, c. 2. || Ibid 5, 1. 3, c. 5. f Ibid 5, 
1. 8, c« 5. $ Ibid, passim. 



450 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VI f. 



Ills Godhead, and to be God, sueh as he was before his 
descent into a body, into flesh, and into man *. 

30. Porphyry, another famous Platonic philosopher of 
the same age, and a virulent enemy to Christianity, says, 
The Word is always without time, and alone eternal f« — 
He moreover says, The Christians weakly worshipped 
Christ J. Again : — Since Jesus Christ began to be honoured, 
no man has been sensible of the general and beneficial su- 
perintendence of the gods §. 

31. Chalcidius, a fifth Platonic philosopher, who lived at 
the same time with Amelius, where he explains the doctrines 
of the Jews, delivers this as their sense of the divine Word: 
— This Word of God is God taking care of human affairs, 
and is the cause by which men may live well and happily, 
if they do not neglect this gift, which the supreme God 
hath granted to them||. Again : — When that which begit, 
is most perfect, that which is begotten necessarily co-exists 
with it, so as to differ only by personal diversity *[f. Again : 
— There is also a most venerable and holy history, which 
mentions the rising of one extraordinary Star, by which was 
foretold, not the diseases or deaths of men, but the descent 
of a venerable God in favour of men for the salvation of 
them ; which Star they testify to have been observed by the 
Chaldeans, who came to this God newly born, and presented 
to him gifts by way of honour and veneration i : \ 

32. Julian, the Apostate, says of John, that he alone of 
all the Evangelists has denominated our Saviour God, and 
appealed to the witness of John Baptist, that it is Christ 
whom we should believe to be God the Word. The good- 
natured John, says he in another place, perceiving that the 
persuasion of Christ's being God, prevailed greatly among 
the Christians dispersed through many cities of Greece and 
Italy, did then privately take upon him to assert the same 
doctrine in his Gospel, with a view to humour them, and 
get himself reputation. — This is Julian's way of ridiculing 
the doctrine of Christ's divinity, but it shows strongly, that 

* Euseb. Praep. Evan, lib, 2, c. 19. t St. Cyril cont Jul. 1. 1, p. 32. 
t Apud Euseb. D, E. lib, 3, c, Q. § Ibid, lib. 5, c. 1. || In Timaeum 
Plat. f Apud Euseb, P. E. l. ll, c. 17. | In Timceum. Consult 
Maurice's Ind. Antiq. vol. 4, p, 703, &c. 



SECT. 2. 



Opinions of Modern Heathens, 



451 



the Christians of the apostolic age were exceedingly zealous 
for the doctrine of Christ's divine nature, and that John's 
gospel, in the opinion of Julian, contains these senti- 
ments *. 

33. Libanius, the Orator, says with scorn, that the 
Christians make that man of Palestine both God and the 
Son of God f . 

34. Hierocles says, the Christians, because of a few mi- 
racles, proclaim .Testis to he God%. 

35. Proclus, a Greek philosopher, who lived in the latter 
end of the fourth or beginning of the fifth century, called 
the doctrine of three Divine persons subsisting in the God- 
head, The tradition of the three Gods, and the divinely de- 
livered theology, which teaches that this world was com- 
pleted by these three §. The same Proclus quotes a Chal- 
dean oracle which says, — After the paternal mind, I Psyche 
dwell ; — which, in our language, are expressive of the Son 
and Holy Ghost. 

36. The Scandinavian religion also plainly inculcates the 
worship of a triple Deity in the mythologic persons of Oden, 
Frea, and Thor ||. 

37. The Mexican Indians likewise were found to have 
some imperfect ideas of a triple Divinity, and it is even said, 
that they worshipped a great idol, which signified one in 
three and three in one 

38. " The Hindoos adore three principal deities, Brouma, 
Chiven, and Vichenou, who are still but one. The repre- 
sentation of them is to be seen in many pagodas under that 
of human figures with three heads, which, on the coast of 
Orissa, they call Sariharabrama ; on the Coromandel coast, 
Trimourti ; and Tretratreyam in the Sanscreet dialect. — 
There are temples entirely consecrated to this kind of Tri- 
nity ; such as that of Parpenade, in the kingdom of Travan- 
core, where the three gods are worshipped in the form of a 
serpent with a thousand heads." ** Again : — t; One circum- 

* Vide Burgh's Sequel, p. 407, and Waterland's Importance, p. 253. 

t Sock Hist. Eccl. lib. 3, c. 23, % Euseb. cont. Hier. § InTiraaeum 
Plat- p. 93. || Mallet's Northern Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 96. % Acosta's 
History of the Indies,, p, 412. | Soiinerat's Voyage, vol. 1, p. 4, Cal- 
cutta edition. 



452 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VII. 



stance which forcibly struck my attention, was, the Hindoo 
belief of a Trinity. The persons are Sree Nun Narrin, the 
Maha Letchimy, a beautiful woman, and a Serpent. These 
persons are, by the Hindoos, supposed to be wholly indivi- 
sible ; the one is three, and the three are one."'* 

39. In the great empires of Tangut and Thibet, and over 
the vast Tartarian deserts to Siberia itself, the same senti- 
ments concerning a Triune Deity prevail. The Tartars and 
Siberians themselves adore in fact only one indivisible God 
under three different denominations, the first signifying, 
the Creator of all things ; the second, the God of armies; 
and the third, the Spirit of heavenly love, proceeding from 
the two former f. 

40, The Chinese seem to entertain the same ideas of a 
triple Deity with all the rest of the nations. Lao-kiun was 
one of their most celebrated philosophers, and flourished 
about 600 years before the birth of Christ. He instituted 
a system of philosophical theology, in which he continually 
repeated as the foundation of all true wisdom, that Tao, the 
eternal reason, produced One ; One produced Tivo ; Two 
produced Three : and Three produced all things. This 
seems a very evident proof, that he must have had some 
obscure notions of a Trinity %. In their original, canonical, 
and ancient books, we find the following passages. In the 
book Tonchu we read these words : — " The source and root 
of all is one. This self-existent Unity produces necessarily 
a second ; the first and second by their union produce a 
third ; in fine, these three produce all." Lopi, in com- 
menting upon this passage, says, that this unity is triple, and 
this triplicity one. 

Laotsee, in his fourteenth chapter called Tsankuen, or 
the elogium of hidden wisdom, says, He that produced all, 
and is himself unproduced, is what we call Hi. He that 
gives light and knowledge to all things, and is himself invi- 
sible, is what we call 17. He that is present every where, 
and animates all things, though we do not feel him, is called 
Ouei. Thou wilt in vain interrogate sense and imagination 
about these three, for they can make thee no answer. Con- 

* See Mr. Forster's Sketches of Hindoo Mythology, p. 12. t See 
Maurice's Indian Antiquities, vol. 5, p. 775, 776> t Le Compte's Me- 
moirs of China, p- 314. 



sect. 2. Opinions of Modern Heathens. 453 

template by the pure spirit alone, and thou wilt comprehend, 
that these three united are but one. 

Li-yong, in commenting upon this passage of Laostee, 
says, Hi, Yi, Ouei, have no name, colour, nor figure. They 
are united in the same spiritual abyss, and by a borrowed 
name they are called Unity ; this unity, however, is not a 
bare unity, but an unity that is triple, and a triplicity that 
is one. To speak thus, is to understand what is most ex- 
cellent in the law of wisdom. The book Sleeki says, The 
ancient emperors sacrificed every three years solemnly to 
him that is one and three : and Choueven, in commenting 
upon the hieroglyphic that expresses unity, says, that in the 
beginning the supreme reason subsisted in a triple unity, 
that this unity created the heavens and the earth, separated 
them from each other, and will at last convert and perfect 
all things*. 

41. We have lately had an opportunity of learning from 
the mutineers of the ship called Bounty, that the inhabitants 
of Otaheite have also some idea of a triple deity, or at least 
of three principal Gods. And it is remarkable, that the 
names of these three principal Gods are conformable in a 
striking degree to those which are usually given to the three 
persons of the Christian Trinity. One is called the Father ; 
another God in the Son ; and the third, the Bird, the 
Friend, and sometimes the Spirit. This information is con- 
veyed to us by Dr. Haweis, and laid before the public in the 
Evangelical Magazine for January, 1797, P- 2 3 — 25. 

I will close these testimonies with an excellent sum- 
mary of the doctrine of the more ancient Heathen on the 
subject of the Divine Hypostases, from the Tracts of the 
very learned Bishop of Rochester : — 

If it should be deemed incredible, as well it may, says 
this able writer, that reason, in her utmost strength, should 
ever ascend so high, as to attain even to a distant glimpse ot 
truths, which have ever been esteemed the most mysterious 
discoveries of Revelation : it will become a question of the 
highest curiosity and importance, to determine by what 
means the Platonic school came by those notions of the 

* See Chevalier Ramsay's Philosophical Principles, vol. 2 ? p. 12& y 
and Maurice's Indian Antiquities, vol. 5, p. P08> 



454 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VII, 



Godhead, which, had they been of later date than the com- 
mencement of Christianity, might have passed for a very 
mild corruption of the Christian faith ; but being in truth 
much older, have all the appearance of a near, though very 
imperfect view, of the doctrine which was afterwards current 
in the Christian church. 

The inquiry becomes more important, when it is disco 
vered, hat these notions were by no means peculiar to the 
Platonic school : that the Platonists pretended to be no 
more than the expositors of a more ancient doctrine ; which 
is traced from Plato to Parmenides ; from Parmenides to 
his masters of the Pythagorean sect ; from the Pythagoreans 
to Orpheus, the earliest of the Grecian Mystagogues ; from 
Orpheus to the secret lore of the Egyptian priests, in which 
the foundations of the Orphic theology were laid. Similar 
notions of a triple principle prevailed in the Persian and 
Chaldean theology ; and vestiges even of the worship of a 
Trinity were discernible in the Roman superstition in a 
very late age. This worship the Romans had received from 
their Trojan ancestors. For the Trojans brought it with 
them into Italy from Phrygia. In Phrygia it was introduced 
by Dardanus so early as in the ninth century after Noah's 
flood. Dardanus carried it with him from Samothrace; 
where the personages, that were the objects of it, were wor- 
shipped under the Hebrew name of the Cabirim. Who 
these Cabirim might be, has been matter of unsuccessful 
inquiry to many learned men. The utmost that is known 
with certainty is, that they were originally Three, and were 
called by way of eminence, The Great or Mighty Ones : 
for that is the import of the Hebrew name. And of the 
like import is their Latin appellation, Penates. Dii per 
quos penitus spiramus, per quos habemus corpus, per quos 
ratiomem animi possidemus : . — Dii qui sunt intrinsecus, 
atque in intimis penetralibus caelif. Thus the joint wor- 
ship of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, the Triad of the Roman 
capital, is traced to that of the Three Mighty Ones in Samo- 
thrace J ; which was established in that island, at what pre- 

* Macrob. Saturnal. 1. 3, c. 4. t Varro apud Arnob. 1,3, p. 123. 

Lugd. Bat. 1651. * Tarquinius Demarati Corinthii filius — Samo-* 

thraciis mystice imbutus, uno templo ac sub eodem tecto, nuinina memo* 
rata conjungit. Macrob. Saturnal. 1, 5, c.4. 



SECT. 2. 



Opinions of Modern Heathens, 



455 



cise time it is impossible to determine, but earlier, if Euse- 
bius may be credited, tban the days of Abraham. 

The notion therefore of a Trinity, more or less removed 
from the purity of the Christian faith, is found to have been 
a leading principle in all the ancient schools of philosophy, 
and in the religions of almost all nations ; and traces of an, 
early popular belief of it appear even in the abominable 
rites of idolatrous worship. If reason was insufficient for 
this great discovery, what could be the means of informa- 
tion, but what the Piatonists themsel ves assign, OsOTra^aooTo^ 
<5>io\oyia,, A Theology delivered from the Gods, that is, A 
Revelation. This is the account which Piatonists, who 
were no Christians, have given of the origin of their master's 
doctrine. But from what Revelation could they derive their 
information, who lived before the Christian, and had no light 
from the Mosaic ? For whatever some of the early Fathers 
may have imagined, there is no evidence that Plato or Py- 
thagoras were at all acquainted with the Mosaic writings : 
not to insist, that the worship of a Trinity is traced to an 
earlier age than that of Plato or of Pythagoras, or even of 
Moses. Their information could be only drawn from tra- 
ditions founded upon earlier revelations : from scattered 
fragments of the ancient Patriarchal creed; that creed, 
which was universal before the defection of the first idolaters, 
which the corruptions of idolatry, gross and enormous as 
they were, could never totally obliterate. Thus the doc- 
trine of a Trinity is rather confirmed than discredited by 
the suffrage of the Heathen sages : since the resemblance 
of the Christian faith and the Pagan philosophy in this arti- 
cle, when fairly interpreted, appears to be nothing less than 
the consent of the latest and the earliest revelations. 

Such is the evidence in favour of the doctrine of the 
Holy and Undivided Trinity arising from the writings of 
the ancient Heathen, and the traditions and practices of the 
modern nations. The momentum of it appears to me very 
considerable, however erroneous several of their notions 
might be. It should seem from hence, that the doctrine is 
not so much in opposition to reason as some of our modern 
philosophers would persuade us it is. It is not only scriptural 
and primitive, but it is philosophical. The greatest geniuses 



456 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VII. 



of the world have entertained it, and entertained it too, on 
the strictest principles of reason and nature. 

It will be allowed, at least, that these testimonies are 
remarkable ; and from them it is evident a tradition concern- 
ing a triplicity in the Supreme Being had pervaded all time, 
and all nations. This is a curious circumstance, and much 
to be observed in an inquiry of this nature. The Old and 
New Testaments unravel the whole mystery. There alone 
the doctrine is revealed with proper authority. 



sect.]. Writings of the Christian Fathers. 45? 



PART EIGHTH, 



SECTION I. 



ON THE UTILITY OP THE WRITINGS OF THE CHRISTIAN 
FATHERS IN DETERMINING THE QUESTION CONCERNING 
THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY TRINITY. 



In our inquiries after truth, the Judgment of Antiquity 
is of great importance. — The testimony of the Fathers 
superior to all uninspired testimonies. — Their various 
excellencies. — Dr. Clark used the Fathers unfairly 
and disingenuously. — Dr. Priestley labours in vain to 
wrest their authority from the hands of the Orthodox. 
— Socinianism equally abhorrent to the Scriptures, and 
to the Fathers. 

Let us in the last place inquire in what manner the dis- 
ciples and followers of the Apostles understood the holy 
scriptures upon these subjects, Those persons who con- 
versed with the Apostles, and with the immediate followers 
of the Apostles, stand the fairest chance of knowing the true 
sense of their writings *. I do not mean hereby to put the 

* " I am, and always shall be, afraid of interpreting scripture contrary 
to the stream of antiquity, unless upon the most clear arguments against 
it, a case I believe which will never happen. The consentient judgment 
of primitive antiquity would surely outweigh a multitude of probabilities 
and plausible reasonings/ 8 Defen. Fid. Nicae a Bull, cap. 1, sect. 9. 



458 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. PART VIII. 



writings of the primitive Fathers upon the same footing as 
the canonical books of the Old and New Testament, which 
have been received in all ages, by the great body of Chris- 
tians, as the undoubted word of God : but as the authors of 
them were some of them contemporaries, companions, dis- 
ciples, or successively followers of the Apostles of our 
blessed Lord, it is highly probable they must contain cer- 
tain traits and sentiments strongly illustrative of the doc- 
trines of the New Testament. At all events, these great 
and good men must be unexceptionable witnesses of facts ; 
what doctrines were taught, and what practices were fol- 
lowed, during the several ages in which they respectively 
lived *. The use then to be made of their writings, is no 
other than what a discreet lawyer would make of all the 
best contemporary authors who lived when Magna Charta 
was obtained. If in that celebrated Code of rights any 
thing appeared obscure, and difficult to be understood, he 
would consult the best authors of the age in which it was 
framed, who had written upon the same, or any collateral 
subject ; especially would he consult contemporary authors, 
or those who immediately followed, if any of them had 
undertaken to illustrate and explain the whole, or any part, 
of that invaluable deed. Magna Charta is to us as English- 
men, what the Word of God is to us as Christians. The 
one contains a copy of our civil rights and obligations, the 
other of our religious privileges and duties. Nor is it any 
diminution of the just and absolute authority of the Word 
of God in our religious concerns, to consult the contem- 
porary and subsequent writings of the Fathers, to see how 
it was understood in the several ages in which they lived ; 

* Kett, in his Bampton Lectures, has given a just discrimination of 
the various excellencies of the Fathers, and may be read with considera- 
ble advantage. The reader of the Fathers; says he, is convinced, that 
although the prize of literature is borne away by the classical authors of 
Greece and Rome; yet. similar beauties distinguish the compositions 
which are the objects of his pursuit* Neither the graces of simplicity, 
nor the splendour of ornament were confined to Xenophon and Plato, noi 
to Livy and Cicero ; for every impartial critic will eommend the pure 
stile of Lactantius ; the rich imagery, and apposite illustrations of Theo- 
doret ; the classical fluency of Minucius Felix; the uniform perspicuity 
of Basil ; the glowing effusions of Gregory of Nazianzuin ; and the exuhe* 
rant and attracting eloquence of Chrysostom and Cyprian. Sermon t. 
page 13. 



sect. 1. Writings of the Christian Fathers. 459 

any more than it would be a diminution of the just and 
absolute authority of Magna Charta, in our civil concerns, 
to consult the contemporary and subsequent writings of 
lawyers and civil historians, to see how it was understood in 
the several ages in which they lived. A conduct similar to 
this is what every prudent man is daily pursuing in all the 
common concerns and occupations of life. Accordingly, 
Christians in all ages, and of every denomination, have 
been forward to claim the verdict of the Fathers in their 
own behalf ; and none ever set light by their testimony, 
but those whose principles and doctrines the writings of the 
Fathers condemned. It is said by an author in the early 
part of the present century, that Dr. Clarke rejected the 
authority of these primitive writers ; and Dr. Waterland 
gives a very good reason for it : — He is against them, says 
he, because he knows they are against him. 

Dr. Clarke, indeed, has made a great show and parade 
with the Fathers in his Scripture Doctrine ; but by no 
means has he used them fairly and ingenuously. He has 
only culled out of their writings such passages as give coun- 
tenance to his own particular views, as I have had occasion 
to observe elsewhere, but has not set before his readers 
what their real and genuine sentiments were upon the great 
subject in debate. He should not have adorned his pages 
what their words without their sentiments, but have given 
us the highest expressions they are ever known to use con- 
cerning the Son and Spirit of God, as well as those which, 
on a partial view, seem to support his own system. Such a 
conduct is misleading unwary readers, and making them 
believe the Fathers were all on his side of the question, 
when it is well known by all competent judges that they 
were nothing less. By the same mode of proceeding, it is 
very easy to prove from the holy scriptures, that the angels 
are men, and that the Son of God himself is no more than 
a man, to the utter subversion of both the Arian and Ortho- 
dox systems. He must have known, that by producing 
their words so partially as he has done, one may make them 
appear to countenance opinions highly abhorrent to their 
real sentiments. Nay, there are some instances, which have 
been noticed by his antagonists, where he has selected 
words, expressive of the nature of the person of Christ 5 ac- 



460 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VIII. 



cording to his own views, and if be had quoted the context, 
his whole scheme would have been subverted *. This was 
very disingenuous, and the apology he makes for it is by 
no means satisfactory. 1 could not have imagined the great 
Dr. Clarke (for whom I have otherwise the most sincere 
regard, and from whose works I have received much satis- 
faction) had been capable of such kind of shuffling in con- 
troversy. Such instances shew us how imperfect man is, 
and how little to be depended upon, even in his highest 
state of intellectual improvement. How would the Doctor 
have exclaimed against these pious frauds (which have been 
too common in all ages and among all denominations) in 
the Orthodox f j> Let them, however, be found where they 
may, they are always, and in all cases, very wrong, and 
highly disgraceful to any cause. If I have been guilty of 
false representations of the words or sentiments of any of 
the authors, sacred or profane, which I have had occasion 
to quote in this inquiry, I hereby disavow the intention, 
make my protest against the practice, and declare that I am 
ignorant of it. I am very sure Christ wants no man to lie 
and pervert truth for the advancement of his honour. If 
the doctrines of the gospel cannot be defended by honest 
means they are not worth defending at all. 

I have another objection to the learned Doctor's book* 
He labours all the way through it too much to degrade the 
persons of the Son and Holy Spirit. There seems an evi- 
dent intention and endeavour of this kind. Hence he is 
niggardly of his praises. When any passage of scripture 
speaks strongly for the real and proper divinity of the second 
and third persons in the blessed Trinity, he strives all he 
decently can to lower and dilute it. If there is a various 
reading, he eagerly catches at it \ magnifies its importance^ 

* For an instance see the 31 chap, of Movatian. 
t I am aware the Doctor professes to cite the words of the Fathers to 
shew how naturally they fell into the way of speaking which was agree- 
able to his views of things. They could not do otherwise, if they spoke at 
all of the person and offices of the Redeemer. But what I insist on, is, 
that he should have produced the highest expressions they ever make use 
of, when speaking of the person of our Saviour, and either reconcile them 
with his own supposition of Christ's being a mere creature, or honestly 
allow, that the writings of these excellent men are not in consistence with 
his scheme of doctrines. 



sect. I. Writings of the Christian Fathers. 461 



and makes the authenticity of the passage appear as duhious 
as he can : though for one manuscript that favours his 
scheme, there shall be a dozen that favour the orthodox 
view of things. Now this I do not like. It is disingenuous, 
I would give every passage and every expression its vail 
force and meaning, without regard to system, even though 
I should appear inconsistent by so doing. Truth wants 
not the arts of polemics. She is all simple and sincere, 
and appears to most advantage in her own native dress. 

Making the above allowances for Dr. Clarke's book *, it 
is a very able, learned, and valuable work, and maybe read 
with considerable advantage. But no man should enter 
upon the perusal of it with a view to learn his creed from 
thence, till he is competently acquainted both with the 
scriptures and Christian antiquity. 

Dr. Priestley is sensible of what weight and importance 
the writings of the Fathers are, in the inquiry concerning 
the person of Christ, and, therefore, he labours to wrest 
their authority out of the hands of the Orthodox, who have 
so long been in pretty peaceable possession of it. If he can 
carry his point, he is surely very much in the right so to do. 
And, indeed, I do not see why he should not succeed in the 
business : for his mode of proceeding will carry all before 
it. He pretends he has got the scriptures to speak for him 
from beginning to end. If he can twist and wiredraw them 
to his own wishes, one may venture to promise him, the 
Fathers will not be less pliable. It is, however, an aukward 
circumstance for him, that when a passage, now and then, 
stands in his way, stares him in the face, and cries aloud, 
" Christ pre-existed — -was begotten of the Holy Ghost — ■ 
and was the Creator of the universe *" — it is an aukward cir- 
cumstance, I say, that he is obliged to reject some of those 
passages as spurious and interpolated, others as inconclusive 
reasonings, and others as improperly applied. This, I 
think, is enough, if any thing can be enough, to shake the 
credit of any man's system. All this, however, the learn- 
ed Doctor has done with the holy scriptures : so that he 

Sec the learned Welchman's Examination of Dr, Clarke's Scrip- 
tare Doctrine, where several of the above charges are brought forward 
with effect. 



462 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. PART VII. 



has the privilege of establishing or rejecting what doctrines 
soever he thinks good, without being controuled either by 
Christ or his Apostles *, And having carried the point so 
completely with respect to the bible, he finds an easy con- 
quest over the Fathers, The seven knotty epistles of St. 
Ignatius, of which the Orthodox have so long made their 
boast, the Doctor has found out, by his wonderful dexterity 
in polemical inquiries, are confessedly spurious, and now 
generally given up by the Learned. And if the pious bishop 
and martyr, Irenaeus, happen to drop any thing pointed 
against the Doctor's progenitors, the ancient Ebionites, of 
heretical memory, he gently passes it over as though no 
such passages occurred in that learned and venerable Fa- 
ther's writings. I must, however, do Dr. Priestley the 
justice to say, that several of his polemical adversaries have 
misrepresented his design in having recourse to the writings 
of the Fathers, even after he has repeatedly justified himself 
on that head. 

The account, however, which Dr. Priestley, more than 
once, has given for drawing the attention of the public to 
the writings of Christian antiquity, appears to me per- 
fectly satisfactory, and is expressed with elegance and 
simplicity : " If I may be indulged in a little allegory/* 
says the Doctor, " thinking myself in full possession of this 
strong hold of my faith (the holy scriptures) I thought I 
could seize also upon a certain out-ivork of some importance 
the writings of the Fathers) in which the enemy had thought 
himself securely lodged. Accordingly I made a sally, and 
dislodged him. Attempts have been made to dispossess me 
of it, but hitherto they have been ineffectual. I am now 
strengthening the fortifications belonging to it ; and, here 
I am determined to stand a close and regular siege, — If I 
am compelled to surrender, I hope to acquit myself in such 
a manner, as to be intitled to leave it with all the honours 
of war. Still, however, I shall have my strong-hold to retire 
intp j* " 

* Well might his friend Mr. Lindsey say, that Dr. Priestley is equal 
to a host of adversaries. Vmdicise Priest, perf. p. 4. None of his ad- 
versaries, that I have seen, can write per fas atque nefas, as the Doctor 
can do. See Strictures on Religious Opinions, passim, where ample evi- 
dence of the learned Doctor's polemic skill is produced. 

* See Letters to Mr, Burn, p. 7, and Remarks on Primitive Candour, 
p. 97, 



sect, 1. JFritings of the Christian Fathers. 463 

But never was man more mistaken than the Doctor Loth 
as to this strong hold, and the out-work. Socinianism is 
equally abhorrent to the Scriptures and the Fathers, upon 
any principles of fair and candid interpretation. And for 
the truth of this I appeal to the judgment of every reader 
into whose hands these papers shall fall. If, indeed, the 
Doctor is determined to call evil good and good evil ; to 
put darkness for light and light for darkness ; to put 
bitter for sweet and sweet for hitter ; there is no remedy 5 
he must take his own way and follow his own devices. It 
is the duty, however, of every one who has it in his power 
to warn his fellow creatures against the danger of his sophis- 
tical reasonings, and most of all against his false, but most 
confident, assertions. If Dr. Priestley is right, the whole 
Christian world, especially the more serious and religious 
part of it, has been fundamentally wrong, except the heretic 
Ebion and a few followers, for the last seventeen hundred 
years. Affecting consideration ! Believe it who can ! 

I am, however, so far from thinking Dr. Priestley in any 
respect to blame for having recourse to the writings of the 
primitive Fathers, to enable him to determine what are the 
genuine doctrines of Christianity, that I think^ after dili- 
gently consulting the word of God itself, he took the best 
possible human means for ascertaining with certainty and 
precision what those doctrines are. I will, therefore, pro- 
ceed through their writings in the same chronological man- 
ner that we have done in our investigation of the books of 
the Old and New Testament, as near as may be, till we 
come towards the close of the fourth century. The doc- 
trines which prevailed in those first and purest ages will bid 
fair to be the genuine doctrines of Christianity, and more 
or better cannot be done to establish primitive and evan- 
gelical truth. 



464 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VIII. 



PART EIGHTH. 



— 

SECTION IL 



THE OPINIONS OF THE APOSTOLICAL FATHERS CONCERNING 
THE PERSON OF CHRIST, AND THE DOCTRINE OF THE 
TRINITY. 



Testimonies of Barnabas : — Of Hennas : — Of Clement : 

— Of Ignatius. The dexterity ivith which Dr. 

Priestley gets over difficulties. — Contrary to the most 
possitive evidence, Dr. Priestley asserts that the Seven 
Epistles of Ignatius are generally given up by the 
learned. — Remarks on Priestley. — Fragment of Poly- 
carp : — His Martyrdom. 

1. Barnabas*. Whether the Epistle f which goes 
by his name be genuine or not, there is no doubt it is ex- 
tremely ancient, and goes back as far nearly as the aposto- 
lic times. He himself, if he were the author of it, was one 
of the seventy disciples, Be this, however, as it may, he 

* For the authority of the Epistle of Barnabas, see Bishop Bull's 
Defence of the Nicene Faith, chap. 2. sect. 2, and Primitive and Aposto- 
lical Tradition, chap, l.sect. 3. See also Archbishop Wake's Apostolical 
Fathers. See moreover Dr. Clarke's Reflections on Amyntor, where he 
says, The Epistle of Barnabas is also without controversy an ancient 
work of the apostolic age, being quoted by almost all the primitive 
Fathers. 

t Dr. Priestley himself quotes it among the writings of the Apostolic 
Fathers, Corruptions of Christianity, vol, 1. p. 218, 



sect. 2. Opinions of the Apostolical Fathers. 46*5 

bears clear testimony to the pre-existence and divinity of our 
Lord : — The Lord, says he, submitted to suffer for our 
souls, although he be the Lord of the whole earth, unto 
whom God said, the day before the world was finished, Let 
us make man after our image and our likeness *. 

2. For if he had not come in the flesh, how could we 
mortals, seeing him, have been preserved ; when they who 
behold the sun, which is to perish, and is the work of his 
hands, are unable to look directly against its rays f . 

3. Thus the scripture saith concerning us, where it 
introduceth the Father speaking to the Son; Let us 
make man after our likeness and similitude ; and let 
them have dominion over the beasts of the earth, and 
over the fotvls of the air, and over the fish of the sea. 
And when the Lord saw the man which he had formed, 
that, behold, he was very good, he said, Increase, and mul- 
tiply, and, replenish the earth. And thus he spake to his 
Son %. 

4. If then the Son of God, being Lord, and being to 
judge the quick and dead, suffered, to the end that his wounds 
might make us alive ; let us believe, that the Son of God 
had no power to suffer, had it not been upon our account §, 

5. Mean while thou hast (the whole doctrine) concern- 
ing the majesty of Christ ; how all things were made for 
him and throuii him ; to whom be honour, power, and 
glory, now and for ever ||. It is evident from these pas- 
sages, that we have, at least, one instance of a Christian, 
converted from among the Jews, in the Apostolic age, who 
believed in the pre-existence and divinity of our blessed 
Saviour . 

6. Hermas is supposed to be the same whom Paul men- 
tions in his Epistle to the Romans. We have one work of 
bis, entitled The Shepherd ; in which also is asserted 

* Section 5. t Ibid. * Sect. 6. § Sect. 7. || Sect. ig. 
•I See Bishop Horsley's Tiacts, page 163—169. ** For the authority 
of this work— see Archbishop Wake's Apostolical Fathers Bishop Bull's 
Defence of the Nicene Faith, chap. % sect. S and Dr. Clarke's Re- 
flections on Amyntor, where he says Tlie Pastor of Hermas is incon- 
testably a most ancient work, being cited by almost all the primitive 
Fathers extant, that lived in or near the second century " 

H h 



466 



Doctrine of the trinity. 



part vi ir* 



the pre-existence and divinity of the Son of God: — The 
Son of God, says he, is indeed more ancient than any 
creature ; insomuch that he was in council ivith his Father 
at the creation of all things*. 

7. The name of the Son of God is great and without 
bounds, and the whole world is supported by it\. 

8. Clemens Romanus was a convert and disciple of the 
Apostles J. He died a martyr, A. D. 100. One complete 
epistle, and part of another, are still extant, of his writ- 
ing § ■ from whence it evidently appears he was an advo- 
cate for the same doctrines as those who had gone be- 
fore him : — The sceptre of the majesty of God, says he, 
our Lord Jesus Christ, came not in the shew of pride and 
arrogance, though he had it in his power ; but in humility, 
as the Holy Spirit spake before concerning him ||. Is not 
this an allusion to that celebrated place of Paul, where he 
says, that our Lord Jesus Christ, being in the form of God, 
thought it not robbery to be equal with God ? And doth 
not this shew T , that, according to St. Clement, our blessed 
Saviour was in being before he chose the form in which he 
appeared in the world % ? 

9. The Corinthians, being content with the portion God 
had dispensed to them, and for hearkening diligently unto 
his word, being enlarged in their bowels, having his suf- 
ferings always belore their eyes **i 

10. Have we not all one God, and one Christ ? Is not 
one Spirit of grace poured upon us all ff ? 

1J. God liveth, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the 
Holy Spirit % %. 

1 2. " All these has the great Creator and Lord of all 
commanded to observe peace and concord : being good to 
all : but especially to us who flee to his mercy through our 

#" Sim. 9, sect. i2. t Sim. 9, sect. 14. * Phil. 4. 3. 

§ For the authority of St, Clement's Epistles, see Archbishop Wake's 
Apostolical Fathers; Bishop Bull's Defence of the Nicene Faith, cap. 3, 
sect. 1; and Dr. Clarke'& Reflections on Amyntor. See also Eusebius's 
Eccl- History, 1- 3, cap- 38* The second is supposed to be spurious. 
|| 1 Epist. sect. 16. 
f See this passage of St. Paul vindicated from the erroneous interpre- 
tation of Dr. Priestley in Burgh's Sequel, p,„9 — 13. 

** 1 Ep. sect, 2. tt Ibid. sect. 46, J J Basil, vol. 2. p. 3SS. 



sect. 2. Opinions of the Apostolical Fathers. 467 

Lord Jesus Christ; to whom he glory and majesty forever 
and ever. Amen *..■" 

13. " Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven. 
Now this blessing is fulfilled in those, who are chosen by 
God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be glory for- 
ever and ever. Amen f." — These two doxologies are some- 
what ambiguous, but seem rather to be applied to the Re- 
deemer of mankind. 

14. " From him (Abraham) came our Lord Jesus Christ, 
according to the flesh." Is not this a plain allusion to Paul's 
distinction, Rom. 9. 5 % ? 

15. "Let us pray to our Lord Jesus Christ, whose 
blood was given for us 

16. " We ought to think of Jesus Christ as God; as 
of the Judge of the quick and the dead ||." 

17. " Wherein must we confess Christ ? In doing those 
things which he saith, and not disobeying his command- 
ments : by worshipping him, not with our lips only, but 
with all our heart, and with all our mind %" 

18. " Our one Lord Jesus Christ, who has saved us, 
being first a spirit, was made flesh, and so called us 

19. Besides all these passages descriptive of the senti- 
ments of Clement, respecting the person of our blessed 
Saviour, it is evident from several other internal marks, that 
he ranked not with any of the Unitarians of the day in 
which he lived. It is plain he was no Ebionite, because he 
quotes Paul's Epistles, which they rejected. He was no 
Nazarene, because he quotes the gospels (all but John's, 
which was not then written) according to our copies, which 
the Nazarenes did not do. Nor was he a Corinthian, be- 
cause he quotes the writings of the Old Testament with ap- 
probation, which these Heretics rejected. 

20. Ignatius was a disciple of John, was appointed 
bishop of Antioch by Paul, was approved of by Peter, and 
had the honour of dying a martyr in the year of our Lord 
107. He is, moreover, said to have been the child whom 
our Saviour took up in his arms, and pointed out as an ex- 

* 1 Ep.sect. 20, t Ibid. sect. 50. $ Ibid, sect. 32. 

§ Ibid. sect. 21. || 2 Ep, sect. 1, 1 Ibid, sect, 2. 

I Ibid. sect. 9. 

H h 2 



46'S 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VII r. 



ample of innocency. Whether this is true or not, it shews 
the opinion the ancients had of his piety. Seven of his 
genuine epistles are still extant, and the doctrines they 
contain are generally considered as perfectly orthodox. 

Dr. Priestley seems to allow, that these Epistles, accord- 
ing to our present copies of them, do contain the doctrine of 
Christ's divinity. But then he is at no loss to get over this 
difficulty; for if he cannot answer them, he can deny their 
authenticity, and thus do the business at one stroke. So 
when he cannot easily confute the doctrine of Christ's con- 
ception by the Holy Ghost, he strikes out with one turn of 
his pen all those chapters from the gospels which contain 
the narrative : and when the arguments of Paul prove too 
hard for the learned Doctor, he begins to degrade the cha- 
racter of the Apostle, and vainly pretends he has proved that 
he reasons inconclusively. So here, when the Epistles of this 
holy Father and Martyr stand in the way of the Doctor's 
scheme, he makes no more to do, but boldly denies their 
authority. I will transcribe the whole passage from his 
Letters to Dr. Horsley, as it is a very curious one, and de- 
serves the severest animadversion : " Besides Clemens Ro- 
manus, you refer to the Epistles of Ignatius, for a proof of 
the early knowledge of the doctrine of Christ's divinity. 
The holy Father, you say, p. 19, hardly ever mentions Christ 
without introducing some explicit assertions of his divinity, 
or without joining with the name of Christ some epithet in 
which it is implied. All this is very true, according to our 
present copies of Ignatius's epistles. But you must know 
that the genuineness of them is not only very much doubt? 
ed, but generally given up by the learned ; and it was not 
perfectly ingenuous in you to conceal that circumstance.'* 

If Dr. Priestley's ipse dixit may pass for argument and 
truth, the seven epistles of Ignatius are generally given up 
by the learned. But — is it so ? Is this the fact ? By no 
means. Dr. Priestley may give them up, because they sub- 
vert that system of doctrine, which he is determined to sup- 
port at all hazards : and a few others may join him in crying 
them down, because they maintain the three orders of 
bishops, priests, and deacons : but that they are generally 
given up by the learned is a notorious untruth. For it is 
well known, that a large majority of th« learned in eccle- 



sect. 2. Opinions of the Apostolical Fathers. 46.9 



siastical antiquity consider the epistles in question as the 
genuine work of the pious bishop and martyr to whom they 
are ascribed : nor is there any good Teason to think that 
they have suffered more by the hand of time or interpola- 
tion than other writings of the same antiquity. Let this be, 
however, as it may, these seven celebrated epistles are con- 
sidered as genuine, for any thing that appears to the con- 
trary, by all the learned Fathers of the church for the first 
four or five centuries ; by these very Fathers from whom 
we receive the holy scriptures themselves as the word of 
God. And of those learned men, who have lived since the 
Reformation, they have been considered as genuine by some 
of the most celebrated in this department of literature. In 
this number are to be ranked the names of Fabricius — I. 
Vossius — Usher — Hammond — Brucker — Huetius — Ittigius 
— Petavius — Grotius — Pearson — Bull — Cave — Wake — 

Cotelerius — Grabe — Dupin — Fleury — Tillemont Bochart 

— Le Clerc — Nelson — Reeves — Leslie Hickes — Marshal 

Beveridge Chillingworth — Watherland Zanchius — 

Buddaeus — Bishop — Berriman — Clarke — Mosheim — Lard- 
ner — Jortin : — and, indeed, the great body of the learned in 
every age have been fully of opinion, that these epistles are 
the genuine work of the author to whom they are ascribed *. 
With what face then can Dr. Priestley say they are generally 
given up by the learned ? — The case is plain. — It does not 
suit the Doctor's hypothesis to admit them. — But then — 
where is truth, fidelity, and honour? — It is by arts like these, 
Voltaire explodes even the bible itself. — But I will pro- 
duce such passages from these epistles as seem, directly or 
indirectly, to our present purpose : — 

" According to the will of the Father, and Jesus Christ 
our God f." 

* See Bishop Horsley's Tracts, p. 120— Archbishop Wake's Apostoli- 
cal Fathers— Dr. Clarke's Reflections on Amyntor, and Bishop Pearson's 
Vindiciae. See also Bishop Bull's Defence of the Nicene Faith, chap. 2. 
sect. 6. Likewise Eusebius's Eccl. Hist, books, chap. 36. Consult also 
the Notes to Rett's Sermons, p. 21—24, 

Dr. Priestley is certainly in the right to reprobate these Epistles if he 
can, says an unknown author ; they subvert all his theology and history. 
Bishop Horsley's Tracts, p. 300. 

t Ep. ad. Ep. introd. 
Hh3 



470 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY". PART VIH. 



21. (i There is one physician both fleshly and spiritual ; 
made and not made ; God incarnate ; true life in death ; 
both of Mary and of God ; first passible, then impassible ; 
even Jesus Christ our Lord 

22. " Nothing is concealed from the Lord, but even 
our secrets are nigh unto him f." 

23. " Our God, Jesus Christ, was, according to the dis- 
pensation of God, conceived in the womb of Mary, of the 
seed of David, by the Holy Ghost J." 

24. " Now the virginity of Mary, and He who was born 
of her, was kept in secret from the prince of this world ; as 
was also the death of our Lord: three of the mysteries the 
most spoken of throughout the world, yet done in secret by 
God §." 

25. " Ignorance was taken away, the old kingdom abo- 
lished, God appearing in the form of man, and man acting 
as God ||." 

26. " Jesus Christ, who was of the race of David ac- 
cording to the flesh, the son of man, and Son of God <[[." 

27. In archbishop Usher's edition of this Epistle we 
have the following passage : — " But we have also a physi- 
cian, the Lord our God, Jesus the Christ, before ages the 
only-begotten Son and Word, but afterwards man also of 
the virgin Mary; for the Word luas made flesh ; incorpo- 
real in a body ; exempt from sufferings in a suffering body ; 
immortal in a mortal body, life in corruption/' This pas- 
sage is similar to one of those w hich we have already quoted 
from this same epistle, yet it is only just to observe, that it 
is omitted as spurious by other editors. 

28. " Our God, Jesus Christ, being in the Father, doth 
so much the more appear**/' 

29. Pray unto Christ for me ff." 

30. " Permit me to imitate the passion of Christ, my 

God x%r 

31. "Ignatius — to the church of God the Father, and 
our Lord Jesus Christ— by the Holy Ghost ||||." 

32. " I exhort you, that ye study to do all things in 

* Ibid, sect, 7. t Ibid. sect. 15. t Ibid. sect. 18. 

§ Ibid, sect, 19. || Ibid. f Ibid. sect. 20. * 

% Ep. ad Rom. scet. -3.tt Ibid. sect. 4. U Ibid sect. 6- 
||i Ep.ad Mag. Introd. 



'sect, 2. Opinions of the Apostolical Fathers. 471 



divine concord ; your bishop presiding in the place of God ; 
your presbyters in the place of the council of the Apostles ; 
and your deacons most dear to me, being entrusted with the 
ministry of Jesus Christ ; who was with the Father before 
all ages, and appeared in the end to us 

33. "There is one God, who has manifested himself by 
Jesus Christ his Son, who is his eternal Word, not coming 
forth from silence, who in all things pleased him that sent 
him f," 

34. " Study to be confirmed in the doctrine of our Lord, 
and of his Apostles ; that so, whatsoever ye do, ye may pros- 
per both in body and spirit ; in faith and charity ; in the 
Son, and in the Father, and in the Holy Spirit J." 

35. " Be subject to your bishop, and to one another, 
as Jesus Christ to the Father, according to the flesh ; and 
the Apostles both to Christ, and to the Father, and to the 
Holy Ghost §." 

36. " Consider the times ; and expect him, who is above 
all time, eternal, invisible, though for our sakes made visi- 
ble ; impalpable, and impassible, yet for us subjected to 
sufferings; enduring all manner of ways for our salvation |[." 

37. "I wish you all happiness in our God, Jesus 
Christ %" 

38. I glorify Jesus Christ, the God who hath thus fil- 
led you with wisdom **. 

39. All these things (Jesus Christ) suffered for us that 
we might be saved, and he did truly suffer, as also he did 
truly raise up himself f f. 

40. After his resurrection he did eat and drink with 
them, as he was flesh ; although as to his spirit he was 
united to the Father JJ. 

41. Ignatius was martyred, A. D. 107- There is a con- 
versation recorded which passed between him and Trajan, 
which is strongly expressive of his belief of our Saviour's 
divinity. Among other questions which the Emperor put to 
this venerable Bishop, one was, Whether he carried Christ 
within him ? He replied, I do ; for it is written, / ivill 
divell in them and walk in them. 2 Cor. 6. 16, and Levit. 

* Epistle to the Magnesians, sect. 6, t Do. sect. 8. t Do. sect. 
13. § Do. do. 1| Epistle to Polycarp, sect, 3. 1f Ibid, sect. 8- 
I Epist, ad Srayr. sect 1- tt Ibid, sect, 2. n Ibid ? sect, 3, 



472 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VIII. 



26. 12. The Emperor then ordered that he should be car- 
ried to Rome, and there be devoured by wild beasts. Upon 
hearing this sentence the venerable man cried out with joy, 
I thank thee, O Lord, that thou hast vouchsafed to honour 
me with a perfect love towards thee, and hast made me to 
be put in iron bonds with thine apostle Paul. 

42. The relation of his martyrdom farther tells us, that 
immediately before he was delivered to the beasts, all the 
brethren at Rome kneeling down with him, he prayed to 
the Son of God in behalf of the churches. 

43. This same pious Relation concludes with an address 
to the Holy Trinity : — " Christ Jesus our Lord ; by whom, 
and with whom, all glory and power, be to the Father, with 
the blessed Spirit, forever and ever. Amen." 

44. Polycarp was a disciple of John, and by him made 
bishop of Smyrna, A. D. 82. He was burnt alive in the 
100th year of his age, and in the year of our Lord 166'. — 
Irenaeus assures us, that Polycarp always taught those things 
which he had learned from the Apostles, and which he deli- 
vered to the church, and which alone are true. All the 
churches throughout Asia bear witness to this, as do the 
successors of Polycarp, in his seat, to this day ; who was a 
far more worthy, faithful, steady witness of the truth, than 
Valentinus and Marcion, and other false teachers. — His 
genuine writings are only one Epistle to the Philippians. — 
In this, however, he is not silent concerning the dignity of 
his blessed Master : — Wherefore, says this good man, girding 
up the loins of your mind, serve the Lord with fear, and in 
truth ; laying aside all empty and vain speech, and the error 
of many ; believing in him that raised up our Lord Jesus 
Christ from the dead, and hath given him glory and a throne 
at his right hand ; to whom all things are made subject, 
both that are in heaven, and that are in earth; whom every 
living creature shall worship; who shall come to be the 
judge of quick and dead *. 

45. " Now the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ ; and he himself, who is our everlasting high-priest, 
the Son of God, even Jesus Christ, build you up in faith 
and in truth f." 



* Epist. ad Philip, sect. 2. t Ibid, sect. 12, 



sect, 2. Opinions of the Apostolical Fathers, 473 

46. There is an excellent fragment of Polycarp, pre- 
served by Victor Capuanus, and cited by Feuardentius, in 
his notes on the third book of Irenaeus, where he gives a 
good account of the design each of the Evangelists had in 
writing his gospel ; in the course of which he advances some 
things extremely favourable to our present inquiry : — Mat- 
thew, says this holy Martyr, writing to the Hebrews, has 
inserted the genealogy of Christ, that he might show Christ 
to be descended of that race, from whence all the prophets 
had foretold he was to be born. But John, who was fixed 
at Ephesus, where the law was not known by the Gentiles, 
began his gospel with the cause of our redemption ; which 
cause was manifest from this, that God willed his Son to be 
incarnate for our salvation. But Luke begins with the 
priesthood of Zacharias, that, by the miracle of his Son's 
nativity, and the office of so great a preacher, he might 
make known the divinity of Christ. And Mark, therefore, 
sets forth some ancient passages of prophetic mystery, agree- 
ing to the coming of Christ, that his preaching might not 
seem a novelty, but be conformable to what had been an- 
ciently delivered *. 

47. In the circular Epistle of the church of Smyrna con- 
cerning the martyrdom of this holy man, we have the fol- 
lowing testimonies to the truths now under consideration : — 
" Eighty and six years have I now served Christ, and he 
has never done me the least wrong : how then can I blas- 
pheme my King and my Saviour f." 

48. When he was at the stake he made a prayer to al- 
mighty God, which he finished in these words : — For this, 
and tor all things else, I praise thee, I bless thee, I glorify 
thee, by the eternal and heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, 
thy beloved Son ; with whom to thee and the Holy Ghost, 
be glory both new, and to all succeeding ages. Amen J. 

49. The Governor hindered the Christians from having 
the body of the Martyr, lest, says he, forsaking him that 
was crucified, they should begin to worship this Polycarp. 
And this was said at the suggestion and instance of the 
Jews, who also watched us, say the authors of this relation, 
that we should not take him out of the fire : not considering, 

& Lib, 3, c. 3, t Martyrdom of Polycarp, sect. 9- 
t Do- sect. 14. 



4?4 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VIII, 



say they, that neither is it possible for us ever to forsake 
Christ, nor worship any other besides him. For him, in- 
deed, as being the Son of God, we do adore : but for the 
Martyrs, we worthily love them, as the disciples and fol- 
lowers of our Lord, and upon the account of their exceeding 
great affection towards their Master and their King f , 

50. " God who is able to bring all of us by his grace 
and help to his eternal kingdom, through his only-begotten 
Son Jesus Christ ; to whom be glory, and honour, and power, 
and majesty, forever and ever. Amen f." 

51. " But. our Saviour Christ reigning forevermore : to 
him be honour, glory, majesty, and an eternal throne, from 
generation to generation. Amen %" 

52. ¥ Jesus Christ ; with whom, glory be to God the 
Father, and the Holy Spirit, for the salvation of his chosen 
saints §." 

53. " That Jesus Christ our Lord may also gather 
me together with his elect : to whom with the Father, 
and the Holy Ghost, be glory forever and ever. Amen ||." 

These seven witnesses all lived in the first century, which 
is usually called the Apostolic age. The five first, namely, 
Barnabas, Hermas, Clement, Ignatius, and Polycarp, most 
of whom sealed the truth with their blood, had every possible 
opportunity of being acquainted with the great truths of the 
gospel. The believers, who wrote the two Relations con- 
cerning the martyrdoms of Ignatius and Polyc&rp, seem 
likewise to have been so favourably circumstanced that they 
could not be ignorant of the doctrines and practices of the 
first age. All these opinions, therefore, delivered by these 
seven witnesses, will bid fair for being the true ones, and 
conformable to those of the Apostles, by whom they had 
been instructed, and from whom they had received them. 

Such is the evidence which arises to the Divinity of 
our blessed Saviour from the immediate successors of the 
Apostles. 

The celebrated Brucker says, when speaking of these 
Apostolical fathers, The object of their most praise-worthy 

* Do. sect. 17. t Ibid, sect. 20- * Ibid, sect, 21. 5 Ibid, 
sect. 22. || Ibid, Advert, to the Relation.— -This doxology probably 

belongs to the latter end of the second, or beginning of the third century ; 
but, as it is annexed to this Relation, I have introduced it here, 



sect. 2. Opinions of the Apostolical Fathers, 475 

endeavours was, to follow the example of their masters, and 
to exhibit the truths of the gospel in such plainness of in- 
struction, that even the weak and children might be led to 
a knowledge of them ; thinking that they had then suffi- 
ciently discharged the office of teacher, when without the 
artificial aids of human erudition, or any mixture of philoso- 
phical conceits, they had boldly and openly, in their speeches 
and writings, held forth to the consideration of all men, even 
the most illiterate, the Author of all salvation, and the means 
by which the possession of it was to be secured. Of this 
we have a singular and shining instance in the genuine epis- 
tles now extant of Clemens Romanus, Ignatius, and Polycarp, 
who were disciples of the Apostles, and who, combining 
the simplicity of evangelic doctrine, with the sublimity of 
divine truth, have displayed them in a style worthy of men 
distinguished by the name of Apostolic. Hist. Crit. Phil, 
v. 3, p. 270. — Di\ Jortin writes, If the opinion of Christ's 
divinity had not prevailed commonly among the Christians 
of the first and second centuries, how came it to pass, that 
Adrian is said to have designed to deify Jesus Christ, or that 
Severus Alexander intended it ? Remarks on Eccl. Hist, 
vol. 2, p. 90. 



47Q 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VIII. 



PART EIGHTH. 



SECTION III. 



THE OPINIONS OF THE CHRISTIAN FATHERS, WHO LIVED 
IN THE FIRST PART OF THE SECOND CENTURY, CON- 
CERNING THE PERSON OF CHRIST, AND THE DOCTRINE 
OF THE TRINITY. 



Authors of the second age, — Quadratics — Aristides — Eu- 
sebius — Miltiades. — The term JVazarene, originally 
given to all Christians.- — The Ebionites. — Testimony 
of Sulpitius Severus Of Augustin. — Hegesippus, 
the Ecclesiastical Historian.— -Witnesses of the Deity 
of Jesus, 

We will now pass on to those Authors who lived in the 
second age. 

I allow, says Dr. Priestley himself, all that Bishop Bull 
and Mr. Burgh ascribe to the Fathers of the second and 
third century ; I allow that they held the doctrine of the di- 
vinity of the Son, at least ; but it was in a qualified sense, 
and by no means the same that was maintained after the 
council of Nice. Defence of Unit, for 1787, p. 139. — 
Whether the Fathers of the first century also held not the 
doctrine of Christ's divinity, the Reader will judge from the 
quotations we have just produced out of their writings : and 
whether the Fathers of the second and third ages maintained 



sect. 3. Opinioyis of the Christian Fathers. 477 

it in any other sense than was received at and after the coun- 
cil of Nice, the following extracts from their works, and the 
works of other Authors who have spoken or written upon 
th% subject, will plainly shew. 

54. Quadratus was bishop of Athens. He presented an 
Apology to the emperor Adrian about the year of our Lord 
125. The Apology itself is lost : but Eusebius declares it 
was in the hands of many of the brethren in his time ; that he 
himself was possessed of it ; and that it contained clear 
evidences of the author's understanding, and of his tiuly 
apostolical faith and sound doctrine *. St. Jerome also 
calls the Apology of this pious bishop a very useful book, 
and says it was full of reason and faith, and becoming the 
apostolical doctrine f. 

55. Aristides was a philosopher of Athens, and became 
a convert'to Christianity in the beginning of the second cen- 
tury. He was a very eloquent man, and presented an 
Apology to the emperor Adrian in favour of the Christians 
about the same time with Quadratus. Eusebius says he was 
a faithful man |, And St. Jerome observes, that he was an 
eloquent philosopher, and a disciple of Christ §. Petavius 
relates also, that it was reported of him in the Martyrolo- 
gies, how he very clearly and fully discoursed in the pre- 
sence of the Emperor, that Jesus Christ was God ||. 

56. Eusebius informs us, that there were in ail fifteen 
bishops, who presided over the church at Jerusalem, from 
the times of the Apostles till the siege of that city under 
Adrian, about the year of our Lord 136. All these bishops 
were Hebrews by birth, had sincerely embraced the faith of 
Christ, and were thought worthy of the episcopal office, by 
those who were competent to judged". And as all the other 
bishops in the Christian world were in communion with 
those of Jerusalem, it will follow, that they also were looked 
upon as orthodox in the faith j for it is well known by those 
who are at all acquainted with the history of those times, 
that whenever any of the bishops declined from what was 
deemed the path of truth on any of the great leading doc- 
trines of Christianity, of which the divinity of Christ was 

* Eus. Ec. Hist, book 4. ch. 3. t Cat. Ec. Script, in Quadrato, 

* Eus. Ec. Hist. b. 4. ch, 3, § Cat. Ec. Script, in Quadrato. 

|j Impres. ad Toe, 2. Dogm. Tlieolog. % Euseb. Ec. Hist. lib. 4. cap. 5. 



478 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VIII. 



always esteemed one, they were constantly excluded from 
communion by all the rest of the orthodox believers. Euse- 
bius, therefore, s peaking with so much approbation of these 
first fifteen bishops of Jerusalem, renders it extremely pro- 
bable, that they were all considered at that time as main- 
taining the commonly received principles of Christianity *. 

Mosheim tells us that the term Nazarene was originally 
given to all Christians, and that it was afterwards appro- 
priated to those Christians of Jerusalem, who considered 
the observance of the Mosaical rites as necessary to salva- 
tion. These were distinct from the Ebionites, and not 
placed by the ancient Christians in the heretical regis- 
ter, while the latter were considered as a sect, whose 
tenets were destructive of the fundamental principles of the 
Christian religion. But, after the second destruction of 
Jerusalem by Adrian, they deserted the ordinary assemblies 
of Christians, and were then reckoned to be a distinct sect, 
but yet were treated by other Christians with great gentle- 
ness, as agreeing in the main doctrines of Christianity. 

Eusebius tells us expressly, that the Ebionites believed 
Christ to be only a common man, born of Joseph and Mary. 
But there were others called by the same name that ob- 
served the ceremonies of the Mosaical law, and yet, avoid- 
ing their absurd notions, believed the pre-existence of 
Christ, and that he was God, the Word and Wisdom of the 
Father. 

Sulpitius Severus, a good historian of the fourth century, 
attests the same thing. He tells us that the emperor 
Adrian placed a guard to keep the Jews out of Jerusalem, 
which was ot service to the Christian faith : for they almost 
all, together with the observance of the law, believed Christ 
to be God%. 

St. Augustin also testifies the same thing. He distin- 
guishes the Nazarenes from the Cerinthians and Ebionites, 
and tells us the latter held that Christ was only a man: 
but the former, though they observed the precepts of the 
law, yet confessed that Christ was the Son of God § . 

57. Miltiades was a man of considerable note towards 
the middle of this second age, and is spoken of by Eusebius 

* See Stillingfleet on the Trinity, p. 17. 
% Sac. Hist. lib. 2. cap. 46. § Lib. de Haeres. c. 8, 9, 10, 



sect. 3. Opinions of the Christian Fathers, 479 

as a defender of the doctrines which we usually call ortho- 
dox *« 

58. Hegesippus f, the ecclesiastical historian, lived 
before or near the time of Justin Martyr. He came to 
Rome about the year 157, while Anicetus was bishop there, 
and continued in that capital till the year 185, in friendship 
and communion with the said Anicetus, with Soter and Eleu- 
therus, his two successors in office. Now it is certain, that 
these three Roman bishops were orthodox respecting the 
divinity of Christ, because they were held in high esteem 
with Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, who, we know, believed 
that doctrine, and considered all those who rejected it in 
the light of heretics. It will follow, therefore, from these 
premises, according to the spirit and practice of those times, 
that Hegesippus must have been sound in the faith. 

Here then are five other witnesses, or to speak more 
exactly, here are four eminent individuals, and a series of 
fifteen bishops in the most ancient church in the world, who 
all seem to have been orthodox in the faith, on the great 
doctrines now in question, and who all lived before the 
time that Justin Martyr came forward as a defender of the 
Christian faith. These, together with the seven former, 
who preceded them, make the number of witnesses in 
favour of orthodoxy in the prime of antiquity exactly twelve : 
witnesses sufficiently numerous and circumstantial to de- 
termine what were then deemed the genuine doctrines of 
Christianity. 

* Ec. Hist. I. 5. c. 23. 
t See a defence of Hegesippus's orthodoxy in Bishop Horsley's Tracts, 
p. 169. 



460 



DEITY OF JESUS c 



PART VIII. 



PART EIGHTH, 



SECTION IV 



THE OPINION OP JUSTIN MARTYR CONCERNING THE PERSON 
OF CHRIST, WITH A VINDICATION OF HIM FROM THE 
CHARGE OF INNOVATION. 



Justin Martyr. — Jesus 'preached his oicn Deity. Dr. 

Priestley not to be credited. — Deists more consistent 

than Socinians. Declaration of Julian. Justin 

Martyr's first Apology. — Internal arguments that 
Justin did not invent the Doctrine of the Trinity. — 
Was considered the chief Champion of Orthodoxy : — 
His Writings very decisive : — His Sentiments avowed 
by the great body of believe?^. 



We are now come to the time of Justin Martyr. It is 
necessary we should pause a little, and attempt to vindicate 
his character from the aspersions of the Socinians. For Dr. 
Priestley asserts, that the doctrines of the Trinity and di- 
vinity of Christ were never known and received in the 
Christian church till introduced by him from the Platonic 
school *. On the contrary I affirm, with all possible con- 
fidence, that the pre-existence and divinity of Christ were 
clearly preached by our Saviour himself — by St. Peter — St. 

* We find nothing like divinity ascribed to Christ before Justin 
Martyr. History of Corruptions vol, 1. p. 32, 



SECT. 4. 



Opinions of Justin Martyr. 



4S1 



Paul — and John*. Nay, what is more, I solemnly affirm, 
that Philo, the learned Jew, who lived in the time of 
our Saviour and his Apostles, was a believer in both these 
doctrines f. 

Moreover, most of the foregoing testimonies, to the pre- 
existence and divinity of Christ, extracted from the writings 
of the Ancients, whether Christians or Heathens, are prior 
to the time of Justin Martyr. The reader then will judge 
what dependence can be placed on the declarations of Dr. 
Priestley as a writer upon these great subjects. His History 
of Corruptions abounds with such unfounded assertions. 
With the utmost confidence we appeal to all antiquity, 
whether Jewish, Heathen, or Christian, for the truth of the 
doctrines we espouse. All antiquity avows the fact, that such 
doctrines were taught. And these facts are so plain, clear, 
and stubborn, that all the sophistry of the most dexterous 
Polemics cannot overturn them. It cannot be. The doc- 
trine of Christ's divinity rests upon the most undoubted 
historical evidence. The bible is full of it. Christian, 
Heathen, and Jewish antiquity is full of it. And, in my 
opinion, the Deists themselves act a more consistent part, 
in rejecting the whole bible, as a fable, than the Socinians 
do, who pretend to embrace revelation, and yet cashier 
some of its important and distinguishing doctrines. How 
much more according to truth than Dr. Priestley's, is the 
declaration of Julian the Apostate, who acknowledges that 
John did teach that Jesus Christ was God :-— Therefore, says 
he,, neither Paul, nor Matthew, nor Luke, nor Mark, at- 
tempted to say, that Jesus was God, but the good natured 
John, who perceived that now (at the time of writing his 
gospel) a great multitude, in many of the Grecian and 
Italian cities, were carried away with this disease.— He first 
dared to speak it %. — What this learned Emperor says of 
Paul, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, is not strictly true. For 
though the three Evangelists in question do not so fully 
teach the doctrine of Christ's divinity as John ; yet they do 
| teach it in a language sufficiently clear and intelligible to 

* It is not necessary to repeat here the proofs of this assertion. Let 
1 the Reader consult the whole of the third part of this Plea . 

t See part 6, sect. 2. * Julian apud Cyril, 1. 10, 

I i 



482 DEITY OF JESUS PART VIII. 

candid Readers. Paul, however, is much fuller upon the 
subject than any one of the three. And John, even in 
the opinion of this implacable enemy of Christianity, did 
teach the doctrine. Important concession ! For if John 
taught it, surely Justin Martyr was not the inventor of it. 
We insist upon it, however, that Paul, in particular, 
taught the doctrine in question twenty or thirty years be- 
fore John wrote his gospel. But as this subject has already 
undergone a discussion in the former part of this work, it 
will not be necessary to return to it again, but only refer 
the reader to what has been there advanced. Several other 
arguments, indeed, present themselves to our consideration, 
which have not yet been attended to, whereby it is demon- 
strably proved, that the divinity of our blessed Saviour had 
been generally received among Christians, long before Justin 
Martyr wrote his Apology, or the Dialogue with Trypho, 
the learned Jew. Some of these arguments I will now sub- 
mit to the consideration of the candid reader, and appeal 
to his judgment for the validity of them. If one or more of 
them shall fail, perhaps another of them may recommend 
itself as being entirely satisfactory. To me they are all of 
some weight. And if any one of them is conclusive, the 
point in debate is gained. 

Justin Martyr presented his first Apology to the Emperor 
Antonius Pius about the year of our Lord 140. The inter- 
nal marks of its being agreeable to the principles then com- 
monly received among Christians are incontestable. He 
lays before the Emperor the doctrines of Christianity with- 
out disguise, and appeals to him for the propriety of them. 
He expressly says they believed the Trinity and the incarna- 
tion of the Son of God. And all this he does, without 
giving the least intimation, that his sentiments upon these 
subjects were novel, and peculiar to himself. He evidently 
all the way through, defends them as the common and well 
known principles of believers. — Moreover, he lived in the 
metropolis of the Roman empire during the time the bishops 
Telesphorus, Hyginus, Pius, and Anieetus presided over the 
church there; the first and last of whom suffered martyr- 
dom in defence of the truth. He was in communion with 
each of these bishops in their course, drew his pen more 
than once in defence of their righteous cause, and stopped 

♦ fm 



£? jk • /% 

sect. 4. Opinions of Justin Martyr. 483 

the torrent of persecution which raged against them. 
Nay, what is more, during his abode at Rome he lived in 
communion with the venerable Polycarp, the disciple of 
John, and bishop of Smyrna, who came thither about the 
year 158, to consult with Anicetus concerning the time of 
celebrating Easter. He was also in communion with He- 
gesippus, who came to Rome nearly at the same period, and 
continued there till the day of his death. Whether they 
were intimately acquainted or not, history does not say, 
though it is exceedingly probable they were, as they are 
known to have been countrymen, and both in communion 
with the same bishop. 

Another argument, arising from internal evidence, may 
be this : Justin, in the Dialogue between himself and Try- 
pho the Jew, proposeth two questions : The first is, Whe- 
ther Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah ? This question 
he saith he can maintain against Trypho, though he should 
not acknowledge the Messiah to be any more than a mere 
man. The second question comprehends more than one 
head : for it goes to inquire whether the Messiah had a 
being before his incarnation ? Whether he was God? And 
whether he was born of a Virgin ? Ail these he declares 
were the true doctrines of the ancient Jewish prophets, and 
of Jesus Christ himself. He advanceth all these things, as 
being well known and generally received among Christians. 
He quotes multitudes of passages out of the Old Testament 
in favour of these doctrines, and carefully endeavours to con- 
fute the different solutions, which the Jewish Rabbins made 
use of to evade the force of his arguments. This renders it 
certain that the proofs which were drawn from the books 
of the Old Testament were by no means new to the Jews, 
but that they had often been urged by the Christians, and 
' as frequently answered by the Jews. This was particularly 
the case with that remarkable passage in the first chapter 
of Genesis, where the Almighty is introduced as saying, 
" Let us make man in our image/' The Christians long 
before the time of Justin urged these words as a proof of the 
Trinity. And even the learned Philo acknowledged, that 
the expressions implied the talking in of others as fellow 
workmen. But some of his countrymen gave one interpret 

t n 



t 



484 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART VIII. 



tation, and some another. Some said, God spake to his 
Angels. Some, that he spake in the plural because of his 
majesty. Others, that he spake to the elements. All these 
inventions of the Jews, Justin takes notice of, and rejects 
them as improper and unnatural. If, therefore, he was the 
first inventor of the doctrine of the Trinity, and the other 
doctrines therewith connected, why doth he take notice of 
and reject with scorn all those silly evasions made use of 
by the Jewish Rabbins ? It appears, then, that the Chris- 
tians, before his time, did believe the doctrine of the Trinity, 
because the Jews, during his own age, made so many dif- 
ferent answers to the difficulty in question. 

Another internal argument in proof that Justin was not 
the inventor of the doctrine of the Trinity, but that it had 
prevailed among Christians before his time, ariseth from the 
manner in which he speaks of those among them, who re- 
jected the divinity of our blessed Saviour, and believed him 
to be born of Joseph and Mary. There are some among us, 
says he, who confess that he is Christ, but affirm him to be 
man born of men ; with whom I do not agree ; nor could it 
be said by most of those who are of my sentiments ; for we 
have been commanded by Christ himself, not to believe the 
injunctions of men, but to believe those things which were 
preached by the blessed Prophets, and taught by Christ him- 
self. 

From hence it appears, that though there were some in 
the days of Justin who believed Christ to be a mere man, 
yet the great body of the Christians, who gave heed to the 
holy Prophets and our blessed Saviour, were of a different 
opinion, and believed as Justin did concerning him. 

It is remarkable, that Socinus is compelled to acknow- 
ledge, both in contradiction to himself, Dr. Priestley, and 
all our other Ebionites, That from the infancy of the church, 
there had been very many pious, learned men, martyrs too, 
who had embraced this grievous error, namely, that Jesus 
Christ is that one God, who created all things, or certainly 
begotten of his proper substance*. This concession is 
giving up the point. For if there were very many from the 
infancy of the church, who espoused these doctrines, and 



Epistle 3d to Radecius. 



sect. 4. Opinions of Justin Martyr. 485 

some who even died martyrs, how can the Socinians say, 
that Justin Martyr, who lived about the middle of the second 
century, was the inventor of them ? 

Another internal argument will arise from the conduct 
of Justin in his Dialogue with Trypho, where he represents 
the Christians of his own age as being endowed with the 
gifts of miracles, and the power of ejecting devils in the 
name of our blessed Saviour, as of the true God *. Now 
we do not read, that either the Ebionites, or Cerinthians, 
those ancient heretics, ever had, or ever pretended to be 
favoured with, this supernatural power. And it is very re- 
markable, that Irenseus makes this a distinguishing mark 
between the catholic church and all the assemblies of 
heretics f . 

Another argument for the divinity of Christ ariseth from 
the conduct of Trypho the Jew, and adversary of Justin, 
who frequently objects to the Christians, that they worship- 
ped Jesus Christ as God ; while Justin undertakes to justify 
their conduct in so doing ; a sufficient proof that Justin 
was not the inventor of the doctrine. 

Another argument of the same kind arises from this con- 
sideration, that neither Trypho the Jew, nor Rabbi Jocha- 
nan, objected to the novelty of the doctrine of the Trinity, 
which they undoubtedly would have done, had it been lately 
invented; but both proceed upon the principle, that the 
doctrine was commonly received by the Christian church. 

Another argument will arise from the assertion of Irenseus 
in the second and third sections of the first book of his 
learned Work. For he saith, that the common faith of 
the churches, all the world over, was that of the Trinity and 
the divinity of Jesus Christ. Dr. Priestley says these doc- 
trines were never heard of till Justin wrote in defence of 
them. Now we know Justin published his Dialogue with 
Trypho the Jew in defence of these doctrines about the 
year 140. Irenaeus wrote the above declaration about 170; 
that is, thirty years after Justin's Dialogue was published, 
It follows, therefore, that Justin must have converted all the 
world to his own way of thinking, and to an erroneous, blas- 
phemous, and idolatrous way of worship, in the course of 



* Dial, with Tryp, p, 311, 



t Lib, 4 ? c, 45, 



4SG 



DEITY OF JESUS* 



PART VIII. 



thirty years ! Credat Judaeus Apella ! What absurdities 
will not men, sensible, learned, and worthy men, embrace 
in defence of a system ! Alas for poor human nature ! 
Arguments the most weak and inconclusive shall be as co- 
gent as demonstrations ; and demonstrations themselves 
shall appear utterly fallacious. Such is the power of preju- 
dice ! I pretend -not to be more exempt than my fellow 
creatures. Let sober men judge between us ! 

Another argument in proof that Justin was not the first 
broacher of the doctrine concerning the Holy Trinity arises 
from the history of Rabbi Jochanan. He lived at Babylon, 
and was the chief of the Jewish synagogue there, while 
Justin lived and taught in Greece and Rome. Now this 
Rabbi takes much pains to instruct the Jew T s in Babylon 
how to answer the Christians, who proved a plurality of per- 
sons in the Divine Nature from the books of the Old Testa- 
ment. Babylon was at a vast distance from Rome. The 
Romans were almost always at war with the people of those 
countries in the period of which we speak. It is not, there- 
fore, in the least probable that Rabbi Jochanan should know 
any thing of the new and unheard of principles taught by 
Justin, at such a distance, and under such circumstances. — ■ 
It is more likely, that the very name of Justin had never 
reached his ears, much less that he was acquainted with his 
religious principles, and thought it necessary to arm his bre- 
thren of the synagogue against them. Be these things as 
they may, it is certain this celebrated Rabbi undertook to 
confute the arguments which the Christians brought from 
those passages in the Old Testament, that seem at least to 
imply a plurality in the Godhead. He particularly considers 
the proofs which Christians even then drew from — " Let us 
make man — Come and let us go down — What nation is so 
great who hath Gods so nigh — I beheld till the thrones were 
cast down and the Ancient of days did sit — Beware of him 3 
for my name is in him," How could he answ T er arguments 
which never had any existence ? It is evident, therefore, 
that the Christians in and about Babylon believed the doc- 
trine of a Trinity at that time. And from thence it will 
follow, with a degree of probability amounting almost to 
certainty, that Justin Martyr was not the original author of 
that doctrine. 



SECT. 4. 



t 

: 



Opinions of Justin Martyr. 487 

An argument, similar to this of Dr. Priestley, was, even 
so early as the latter end of the second, or beginning of the 
third century, urged by the heretics against the doctrines of 
the Trinity and divinity of Christ : only it happens, unfor- 
tunately, that Dr. Priestley contradicts, in some degree, the 
assertions of his ancient brethren. For he says, these doc- 
rines were unknown in the Christian church till invented hy 
Justin. Now Justin was martyred about the year 163. — 
These ancient heretics say, that the doctrines in question 
ere unknown till the time of Victor, bishop of Rome, who 
died in the year 201. But, to pass over the contradictions 
of these ancient and modern Socinians, let us attend to the 
answer that was given them at that time by some unknown 
defender of the divinity of Christ. Some say it was Caius, 
and others ascribe it to Origen. Who the person was is of 
no great consequence in the present argument. His words 
are taken from a discourse he had written against the heresy 
of Artemo, who, like Dr. Priestley, believed that Jesus Christ 
was no more than a mere man. That the true apostolical 
doctrine of the simple humanity of Christ was preserved till 
Victor's days, but that it was corrupted from that time, may 
possibly be somewhat probable, says this author, if what 
they assert had not, first, been confuted by the holy scrip- 
tures ; and, secondly, by the writings of those Christians 
who were more ancient than Victor, such as Justin, Miltiades, 
Tatian, and Clement, and of many others ; in all whose 
books the divinity of Christ is maintained. For who can be 
ignorant of the writings of Irenseus, Melito, and the rest, 
who have taught, that Jesus Christ was God and man at the 
same time ? The psalms also and hymns of the brethren, 
written since the beginning by the faithful, do set forth the 
praises of Christ, the Word of God, ascribing divinity to 
him . So that since the doctrine of the church has been 
preached for so many years, how can they say, that till Vic- 
tor's time the whole church was of their opinion ? Are they 
not ashamed to invent this calumny against Victor, who 

* "The worship, hymns, and doxologies addressed to the three per- 
sons, as old as Christianity itself, and as unanimously and constantly ad- 
hered to, are all so many proofs of the truth of what we assert, that the 
blessed Three, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, were the God of the primi* 
tive Christians." Fiddes's Thco. Spec, vol, 1, p. 393, 



488 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART VIII. 



knew very well, that Theodotus the currier, who was the 
first author of the sect of those that deny the divinity of 
Christ, was turned out of the church hy Victor himself? — 
For if this bishop had been of the same mind with Theodo- 
tus, how comes it to pass that he excommunicated him upon 
the account of his doctrine * ? 

These arguments may be sufficient to show, that, from 
what quarter soever the doctrines of Christ's divinity and 
the holy Trinity might spring, Justin Martyr was not the 
author and inventor of them.— We will now proceed to ex- 
amine what those doctrines really were which he embraced 
and taught to mankind. 

59. Justin Martyr is one of the most eminent Christians 
and scholars in this period. He was born A. D. 103, and 
beheaded at Rome A. D. 167. His sentiments upon the 
subjects in question are well known. He is considered as 
one of the chief champions of the orthodox faith. We will 
produce a few passages from his valuable writings God, 
says he, the Father of righteousness, and purity, and every 
virtue ; him and his only-begotten Son, together with the 
Spirit, who spake by the Prophets, ive ivorship and adore f . 

60. " The master who instructed us in this kind of wor- 
ship, and who was born for this purpose, and crucified under 
Pontius Pilate, is Jesus Christ, whom we know to be the 
Son of the true God, and therefore hold him the second i 
order, and the prophetic Spirit the third, and we have good 
reason for ivorshipping in this subordination, as I shall show 
hereafter. For here they look upon it as a downright mad- 
ness, to assign to a crucified man the next place to the im- 
mutable, eternal God, Parent of all things, being entirely in 
the dark as to the mystery of this order %" 

61. " We deliver the truth; and nothing but the truth ; 
and that Jesus Christ alone is properly the Son of God, as 
being the Logos, and First-begotten, and Power of God, 
and by his counsel was made man §." 

g 62. " Lest any one should object, that we can show no 
a-eason why our Christ should not be looked upon as a mere 
/man, I shall enter upon the proof of his Divinity ||." 

* See Stillingfleet on the Trinity, p. 52. 
: t First Apology, sect. 6. t Ibid, sect. 16. § Ibid, sect, 31, 
JjS|- 11 Ibid, sect. 37. 



SECT. 4. 



Opinions of Justin Martyr. 



489 



6*3. "They who affirm the Son to be the Father, are 
guilty of not knowing the Father, and likewise of being ig- 
norant, that the Father of the universe has a Son, who being 
the Logos, and First-begotten of God, is also God*" 

64. " Next after the unbegotten and ineffable God, we 
adore and love him who is the Word of God ; because that 
for our sakes he became man, and was made partaker of our 
sufferings, that he might heal us f" 

65. He speaks of the Son's generation in these words : 
— " In what has been said already, I have briefly shown, 
that the Power, which the word of the prophet calls God 
and Angel, is not a name only, as the light of the sun, but 
numerically another. I said this Power was begotten of the 
Father, by his power, and counsel, and will, but not by way 
of abscission, as though the Father's essence was divided ; 
or such as all other things, which being divided, or cut, are 
not the same as before. And I exemplified in those things 
which we see set on fire by another, that other not being 
diminished thereby, but being able to set on fire many more, 
itself remaining the same %" 

66. " I can show, that he (Christ) even pre-existed the 
Son of the Creator of all things, being God, and was born 
man through a virgin 

67. !• In the beginning, before all creatures, God begat 
a certain Rational Power out of himself, which is also called 
by the Holy Ghost, the Glory of the Lord, and sometimes 
Son, and sometimes Wisdom, and sometimes Angel, and 
sometimes God, and sometimes Lord and Logos ||." 

68. " That ye might also know God, who came forth 
from above, and became man among men, and who is again 
to return, when they who pierced him shall see and bewail 
him f 

69. " He, the Almighty, the Creator of all things, the 
invisible God, he hath planted among men, and engraved in 
their hearts, the heavenly truth, the Word holy and incom- 
prehensible ; not sending, as any one would conjecture, a 
servant, an angel, a prince, an earthly potentate, or one to 
whom he had entrusted the administration of heavenly 
things ; but the Artificer and Maker of all things, by whom 

* Ibid, sect. 83. t Apol. i, prope finera. $ Dial, withTrypho, 
p. 358. . $ Ibid, p. 267. Jl P. 284, y P. 288, 



490 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART VIII. 



he formed the heavens, and shut in the sea in its proper 
bounds ; whose mysteries all the elements faithfully observe, 
from whom the sun has received his charge to measure out 
the day, whom the moon obeys, when he commands her to 
shine in the night, and the stars which follow the course of 
the moon ; by whom all things are ordered and bounded, to 
whom all things are subject, the heavens, the sea, and all 
that in them is ; the fire^ the water, the abyss, what is in 
the heights, and depths, and betwixt them : him he hath 
sent to them. For what end ? As a man would think, to 
tyrannize over them ; to awe and terrify them ? No ; he 
sent him as a king sends a king his son, in clemency and 
meekness. He sent him as a God. He sent him to men. 
He sent him to save ; to persuade, not to compel by vio- 
lence : for violence is not in God 

Besides all these, and a vast number of similar declara- 
tions, dispersed through this great man's writings, it is most 
evident that the divinity of Christ, and the other capital doc- 
trines that are connected therewith, were the commonly 
received principles of the church at that time. For neither 
in his Apologies, nor yet in his Dialogue with Trypho the 
Jew, does he deliver the principles therein laid down as his 
own private sentiments, but as the avowed sentiments of the 
great body of believers. And for the truth of them he ap- 
peals to the Emperors, to the Jews, and to all the world. 
His vindication is not so much the vindication of himself 
and his own opinions, as the vindication of Christ, of all his 
followers, and of the great, leading, and fundamental truths 
of his religion. 



* Epistle to Diognetus. 



sect. 5. Opinions of the Christian Fathers. 



491 



PART EIGHTH, 



SECTION V. 



THE OPINIONS OP THE CHRISTIAN FATHERS, WHO LIVED 
IN THE LATTER PART OF THE SECOND CENTURY, CON- 
CERNING THE PERSON OF CHRIST, AND THE DOCTRINE 
OF THE TRINITY. 



Opinions of Tatian : — Of Alexander : — JEpipodius : — 
Melito, bishop of Sardis : — Theophihis, bishop of An- 
tioch : — Athenagoras, the Athenian philosopher .•— 
Andronicus : — Athenogines : — Blandina : — Irenceus — • 
His simplicity and sincerity — His testimonies Of 
Clemens Alexandrinus. 



70. Tatian was a man of eminent learning. After his 
conversion to Christianity he became a scholar of Justin 
Martyr, and consequently must have lived about the middle 
of the second century. And whatever other opinions he 
migbt entertain, it is certain he held the doctrine of our Sa- 
viour's pre-existence and divinity : for he saith, that he was 
born by communication, not by abscission. For that which 
is cut off, says he, is separated from the first 5 but that 
which hath something in participation, taking its part of the 
economy, makes not him indigent from whom he received 
it. As many fires are lighted by one firebrand, and the light 
of the first brand is not diminished by giving light to those 



492 



DEITY OP JESUS. 



PART VIII. 



many; so the Word proceeding from the power of the 
Father, hath not made the Father that begat him without 
Word or Reason 

71. Alexander, the fifth of the seven sons of a certain 
Christian named Felicitas, who with their mother suffered 
martyrdom at Rome about the year 150, said to the Judge, 
" I am a servant of Jesus Christ. Him I confess with my 
mouth, in him I believe with my heart, and him I incessantly 
adore \" 

72. Epipodius, who with another Alexander suffered 
martyrdom at Lyons about the year 178, said to the Judge 
upon that solemn occasion : — " You do not know that our 
eternal Lord Jesus Christ, whom you say was crucified, rose 
again from the dead, who by an ineffable mystery being 
both God arid man, hath marked out for his servants the 
road to eternal life, and leads them to heavenly king- 
doms %r 

73. Again: — Having his mouth running with blood, in 
consequence of the blows given him by order of the Judge, 
the same Epipodius broke out into this exclamation : — " I 
confess Christ to be God with the Father and the Holy 
Ghost, and it is but just I should lay down my life for him, 
who is both my Creator and Redeemer §." 

74. Melito was a very learned and laborious man. He 
was made bishop of Sardis about the year 160. All his 
works are lost, except one short epistle, and some fragments. 
From these fragments, however, it fully appears what 
sentiments he entertained concerning our blessed Saviour: 
— " There is no necessity," says he, " to prove the real 
and true human nature of Christ's soul and body, from his 
actions after his baptism. For what was done after his 
baptism, especially his miracles, did manifest and confirm 
to the world, the deity of Christ veiled in the flesh. The 
same person being perfect God, and perfect man, confirmed 
to us both these natures ; his Godhead by the miracles he 
wrought in the three years after his baptism, and his man- 
hood in the thirty years before it, in which the imperfection 
of the flesh concealed the tokens of his Godhead, although 
he ivas true God eternally ||." 

* Tatian's Orat. cont. Graecos, p. t45. t Ruinarfs Acta Sincera 
Mart, p, 22. % Ibid, p, 64. § Ibid, p. 65, |j Anastatii Hodegus, c. 12, 



sect. 5, Opinions of the Christian Fathers. 493 



75. Again : — cc We are not the worshippers of stones 
void of sense, but of the only God, who is before all, and 
over all, and of his Christ, who is truly God before all 
ages 

76. Theophilus, being a studious, inquisitive man, be- 
came convinced of the truth of Christianity, and was made 
bishop of Antioch about the year of our Lord 168. We 
have nothing of his remaining, except his books to Autolycus. 
But from these it is plain he fully acknowledged the doc- 
trines which we now usually call orthodox : — " By the Son 
of God," says he, c< we must by all means understand the 
Word, always existing in the mind of God," 

77- Again : — " The three days before the creation of the 
sun and moon were types of the Trinity, of God, his Word, 
and his Wisdom." 

78. Again : — " The Word was God, and sprung from 
God." 

79. Again : — " When the Father said, Let us make 
man in our own image, he spake this to no other but to his 
own Word, and his own Wisdom f." 

80. Athenagoras, a learned Athenian philosopher, be- 
came a convert to Christianity in the second century. He 
addressed an Apology in favour of the Christians to the Em- 
perors Aurelius and Commodus about the year 3 80. In this 
valuable composition, which is still extant, he delivers his 
sentiments very freely upon the subject in question : — " It 
is abundantly plain," says he, " that we do not deny the 
existence of a God: we who maintain, there is one un- 
created, eternal, invisible God, not subject to passions, not 
to be circumscribed in place, nor capable of divisibility, only 
to be comprehended in the mind and spirit, and endowed 
with incomprehensible glory, beauty, power, and majesty ; 
by whom all things were made through his Word, were dis- 
posed in this beautiful harmony, and are continually sus- 
tained. We believe too in the Son of God. Let not this 

* Pascal Chronicle, anno Christi 164 
* See his Books to Autolycus, passim.—In making the three first days 
of the creation typical of the Trinity, I do not mean to assert that Theo- 
philus reasoned discreetly ; but the observation constitutes a substantial 
proof of this matter of fact, that he embraced the doctrines of the 
Trinity. 



494 



DEITY OF JESTfS. 



PART VII t* 



be a subject of ridicule, because we mention a Son of God : 
we have not the same notions of God, the Father, or the 
Son, as your absurd Poets and Mycologists have, who make 
their gods as foolish and as wicked as themselves. The 
Son of God is the Word of the Father, in power and 
energy: by him and through him were all things created : 
for the Father and the Son are One : the Father is in the 
Son, and the Son is in the Father, by the unity and power 
of the Holy Ghost : For the Son of God is the Wisdom 
and Word of God. If you desire a farther explanation of 
the meaning of Son in this point, I will endeavour to give 
you a brief one: He is the First-Born of the Father, but 
not as ever beginning to exist ; for from the beginning, 
God, being an eternal mind, must have had, from all eter- 
nity, the Word in himself; and as the wisdom and power, 
lie exerted himself in all things : all matter was subject to 
him by formation, and the elements blended together, and 
mixed by his operation. The prophetical Spirit too con- 
firms this : The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his 
way, before his ivorks of old. And as for the Holy Spirit, 
who speaks to us in the Prophets, we assert him to proceed 
from God, as a beam proceeds from the sun, and is reflected 
back again. Who then can but wonder, to hear us charged 
of Atheism, who declare, there is God the Father, and God 
the Son, and God the Holy Ghost ; who acknowledge their 
power in unity and distinction * !" 

81. Again: — " We acknowledge God, and the Son his 
Logos, with the Holy Ghost, one as to their power, even 
the Father, the Son, and the Spirit ; the Son to be the 
Mind, the Word, the Wisdom of the Father, and the Spirit 
to proceed as light doth from fire f 

82. When Andronicus suffered martyrdom towards the 
close of the second century, the Heathen judge objected to 
him, that Christ whom he invocated and worshipped was a 
man, who had suffered under the government of Pontius 
Pilate, and that the Acts of his passion were then extant J. 

83. Athenogines suffered martyrdom about the year 196. 
Basil mentions a sacred hymn, which he ascribes to him as 
its author. It was expressly addressed to our blessed 



* Legat, pro Christ, p. 10. t Ibid, p, 12. * Baron, an. 190. 



sect. 5. Opinions of the Christiaii Fathers. 4.95 

Saviour, and contained a doxology to the whole Trinity : — • 
" We laud the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God 

84. Blandina towards the latter end of the second cen- 
tury obtained the crown of martyrdom in France, and is 
said not to have been sensible of pain, though she was tos- 
sed by a wild bull in a net, " while she made her prayers to 
Christ f." 

85. Irenseus, the disciple of Polycarp, was made bishop 
of Lyons in France, A. D. 178, and beheaded by Severus, 
A. D. 202. He wrote an excellent work against the heresies 
of the age in which he lived, most of which is come down 
to our own times, though in a very imperfect state. In this 
celebrated work, however, we find most of the errors which 
prevail in the present day, concerning the person of Christ, 
strongly and justly opposed. This single consideration, me- 
thinks, should stagger our zealous Socinians, and make them 
pause in their opposition to the divinity of our blessed 
Saviour. I profess before God, that I should be very much 
alarmed at obstinately and professedly maintaining such 
principles as this good man clearly condemned as heretical. 

There is a passage recorded by Eusebius, which gives 
one a very high opinion of the simplicity, sincerity, zeal, 
and inviolable regard to truth both of Polycarp and this 
learned and pious Father. It is in a letter which Irenaeus 
wrote to Florinus, who had deviated from the truth to the 
errors of Valentinus. In this Epistle Irenaeus endeavours to 
reclaim Florinus. " These opinions, O Florinus/' said he, 
" that I may speak sparingly, do not appertain to sound 
doctrine. These opinions are dissonant from the church, 
and drive those who give their assent to them into the 
greatest impiety. These sentiments even the heretics, who 
are without the church, have not dared to publish at any 
time. These opinions the presbyters who lived before our 
times, who also were the disciples of the apostles, did in no 
wise deliver unto thee. For I saw thee, when being yet a 
child I was in the lower Asia with Polycarp, behaving thy- 
self very well in the palace, and endeavouring to get thyself 
well esteemed by him. For I remember the things then 
done, better than what has happened of late ; for what we 

* Basil de Spirit. Sanct. c. 29. Consult Knowles's Primitive Chris- 
tianity, p. 45. f Ecc. Hist, of Euseb. b. 5. eh. 1, 



406 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART VIII. 



learned, being children, increases together with the mind 
itself ; and is closely united to it. Insomuch, that I am 
able to tell even the place where the blessed Polycarp sat 
and discoursed; also his goings out and comings in; his 
manner of life ; the shape of his body ; the jjdiscourses he 
made to the people ; the familiar converse which, he said, 
he had with John, and with the rest who had seen the 
Lord, and how he rehearsed their sayings, and what they 
were which he had heard from them concerning the Lord ; 
concerning his miracles, and his doctrines. According as 
Polycarp received them from those, who with their own eyes 
beheld the Word of life, so he related them, agreeing in all 
things with the scriptures. These things, by the mercy of 
God bestowed upon me, I then heard diligently, and copied 
them out, not in paper, but in my heart ; and by the grace 
of God I do continually and sincerely ruminate upon them. 
And I am able to protest in the presence of God, that if 
that blessed and apostolic presbyter should have heard any 
such things, he would presently have cried out, and stopped 
his ears, and according to his usual custom would have 
said, Good God ! for what times hast thou reserved me, 
that I should suffer such things ! And he would have run 
out of the place, where he was either sitting or standing, 
should he have heard such words as these. And this may 
be manifested from those epistles of his, which he wrote 
either to the neighbouring churches to confirm them, or to 
some brethren to admonish and exhort them *. 

Irenaeus was evidently both learned, pious, and inquisi- 
tive, and was brought up under the venerable Polycarp. 
Polycarp was the disciple of John. John was the bosom 
friend of the Saviour of the world. So that Irenaeus was 
but three removes from Christ himself, and sealed the truth 
of his doctrines with the blood of his heart. One may, 
therefore, reasonably suppose, that if Irenaeus delivered his 
sentiments at all upon the principles of religion, he must 
be very competent to judge what was truth and what was 
error f« But he has delivered his sentiments, and written 

* Ec. Hist. Euseb. lib, 5. cap. 20. 
f It is evident that he was not only competent to judge, but that he 
was extremely anxious to have the true principles of religion handed 
down to posterity. For Eusebius tells us, that he added to one of his 



sect. 5. Opinions of the Christian Fathers. 



497 



professedly upon the doctrines then in dispute, and now in 
dispute between the orthodox and what he calls the heretics, 
and is decidedly in favour of the former and in opposition to 
the latter. It ought, therefore, to be something very ma- 
terial indeed on the side of heresy that should determine our 
minds to embrace it. Nothing less, I think, than absolute 
demonstration should in this case influence any man. The 
Ebionites of old, and the Socinians of the present times, are 
by this pious and learned Martyr considered as fundamen- 
tally wrong. No man, I think, should presume to contra- 
dict this determination. At least I dare not do it. 

Let us, however, see what he has advanced upon the 
subject now under consideration : — " For the church/' says 
he, " though dispersed through the whole world, to the 
ends of the earth, hath received from the Apostles, and 
their disciples, this faith in one God, the Father Almighty, 
who hath made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all 
things in them; and in one Jesus Christ, the Son of God, 
incarnate for our salvation ,• and in the Holy Ghost, who 
preached by the Prophets the dispensations of God, and his 
coming, and his generation of the Virgin, and his passion, 
and resurrection from the dead, and the assumption of our 
beloved Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh into heaven, and 
his coming from heaven in the glory of the Father, to 
gather all things together, to raise all human flesh, that 
so every knee in heaven, in earth, and under the earth 
may bow, according to the good pleasure of the invisible 
Father, to Christ Jesus our Lord, and God, and Saviour, 
and King; and every tongue shall confess to him, and he 
shall execute just judgment in all things. Wicked spirits, 
and sinning angels, unjust, wicked, and blasphemous men, 
and those who have become apostates from the truth, he 
will send into everlasting fire : but upon the just, and up- 
right, and those who observe his precepts, and upon such 
as have persevered from the beginning in his love, or 
have been brought to it by repentance, he will freely be- 

books this solemn and religious obtestation— u I adjure thee, whoever thou 
art that shalt transcribe this book, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by his 
glorious coming, wherein he shall judge the quick and the dead, that thou, 
compare what thou transcribest, and diligently correct it by the copy 
from whence thou transcribest it, and that thou likewise transcribe this 
adjuration, and annex it to thy copy." Ec. Hist. book. 5. ch 20. 



498 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART VIII. 



stow life everlasting, and surround them with eternal bright- 
ness 

86*. Again : — " This preaching and this faith are re- 
ceived and faithfully preserved by the church, as if she in- 
habited one house, though dispersed throughout the whole 
world. She believes these things, as having but one soul 
and one heart, and she preaches these things in concord, 
and teaches and delivers them, as having but one mouth j 
for the languages of the world are dissimilar, but the power 
of tradition is the same. And neither do the churches in 
Germany believe otherwise, or teach otherwise, nor in Spain, 
nor among the Celtae, nor in the East, nor in Egypt, nor in 
Libya, nor such as are established in the middle of the 
world 3 but as the sun created by the Almighty is one and 
the same in all the world, so the preaching of the truth ap- 
peareth every where, and enlighteneth all men, who wish to 
come to the knowledge of the truth ; and neither will he, 
amongst the governors of the church, who is very power- 
ful in speech, say things different from these ; for no man 
is above his master; nor will he, who is weak in speech, in- 
validate the tradition. For as the faith is one and the same, 
neither he who can say much, usually adds, nor does he, 
who can say but little, usually diminish f." 

87. Again: — "Since then we hold the rule of faith, 
namely, that there is one God Almighty, who made all 
things by his Word, who filled and framed them out of 
nothing into being, as the scripture saith, The heavens 
were made by the Word of the Lord, and all the hosts 
of them by the breath of his mouth. And again, All 
things were made by him, and without him ivas nothing 
made. All things excepts nothing; but the Father made 
all things by hirn, whether visible or invisible, sensible or 
intelligible, temporary things for a certain end, or eternal ; 
and since God made all these things, not by angels, noi- 
some powers distinct in sentiment from him, (for he wants 
nothing) but by his Word and Spirit makes, disposes, 
governs, and gives existence to all. He who made the 
world 5 (for the world comprehends all things) he who 
formed man ; he who is the God of Abraham, the God of 



* Xib, 1. ch, 2. 



t Ibid, k l. ch. 3, 



sect. 5. Opinions o f the Christian Fathers. 499 



Isaac, and the God of Jacob, besides whom there is no other 
God, neither beginning, nor power, nor fulness : he is the 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we have shown. There- 
fore holding this rule, though they use many and various ar- 
guments, we easily prove that they have gone off from the 
truth*." 

88. Again : — c( Suppose the Apostles had left us no 
scriptures, must we not have followed the order of tradition, 
which they committed to those with whom they entrusted 
the churches ? To this, many nations of the Barbarians, 
who believe in Christ, assent, having salvation written in 
their hearts by the Spirit, without letters or ink, and dili- 
gently preserving the old tradition, believing in one God, 
the Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things in them by 
Jesus Christ, the Son or God; who, out of his exceeding 
love towards his own creature, suffered himself to be born of 
a virgin^ uniting in himself man to God, suffered under Pon- 
tius Pilate, rose again, was received into glory, and shall 
come again the Saviour of those that are saved, and the 
Judge of those that are judged, sending into eternal fire 
» those who change the truth, and despise his coming and his 
Father's. They who without letters have believed this Faith, 
are, with respect to our language, Barbarians ; but with res- 
pect to sentiment, moral; and conversation, very wise, through 
faith, and please God, living in all justice, chastity, and wis- 
dom. To these persons, if any one report the inventions of 
heretics, speaking to them in their own language, they 
quickly shut their eyes, and fly as far as possible horn them, 
not enduring to hear their blasphemous discourse f." 

89. Again : — " Neither the Lord, nor the Holy Ghost, 
nor the Apostles would have definitively and absolutely de- 
nominated him God, who was not God, nor given this name 
to any, unless he were the true God; neither, from their 
own persons would they have called any Lord but God, that 
beareth dominion over all things, the Father and his Son, 
who hath received dominion from the Father. Seeing then 
that the Father is truly Lord, and that the Son is truly 
Lord, the Holy Ghost has deservedly signified them by the 
appellation of Lord %" 

* Lib, 1, ch. 19, t Lib, 3, cb. 4. * Book 3, cb. 6, 

K k 2 



500 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART VIII. 



90. Again : — " Such is the stability of the Gospels, that 
even the Heretics bear witness to it, since each of them en- 
deavours to confirm his own doctrines by proofs from those 
writings. For the Ebionites, using only the gospel accord- 
ing to Matthew, are by that very thing convicted of error, 
not conceiving rightly concerning the Lord. Marcion, cur- 
tailing the gospel according to Luke, may be proved a blas- 
phemer against the only God, from the parts which he re- 
tains. 

91. "Being invisible he was made visible, being incom- 
prehensible he became comprehensible, being impassible 
he became passible, and being the Word of God he became 
man K" Again : — a Having plainly shown, that the Word, 
which was with God in the beginning, by whom all things 
were made, and who was always present to mankind, that he 
was in the last times, according to the predetermination of 
the Father, united to his own creature, being made man ca- 
pable of suffering ; there is no room for contradiction, who 
say, If therefore Christ was then born, he was not before. — 
For we have showed that the Son of God did not then begin 
to be, having always existed with the Father; but when he 
was incarnate, and made man, he took upon himself the sad, 
forlorn condition of man, compendiously procuring salvation 
for us ; that so what we had lost in Adam, the likeness and 
similitude of God, we might recover in Christ Jesus. For 
since it was impossible that man, who was once subdued, 
and thrown off by disobedience, should be renewed, and re- 
ceive the reward of victory ; and also impossible that he 
should obtain salvation, who was fallen under sin ; the Son > 
who was the Word of God, descending from the Father, and 
perfecting the dispensation of our salvation, did both for 
us j\" 

92. Again : — " That none of the sons of Adam is called 
God, as the Lord is called, we have demonstrated from the 
scriptures ; and to all who have attained but a moiety of the 
truth, it is obvious, that he alone of all mankind is denomi- 
nated God, and Lord, and the eternal King, and the Only- 
begotten, and the incarnate Word, both by the prophets, 
and apostles, and the Holy Ghost himself. And these things 



* Book 3, ch, 11 and 18. 



t Lib. 3, cap. 20. 



sect. 5. Opinions of the Christian Fathers. 501 

the scriptures would not have testified of him, had he been 
but a Man as all other men are : but the holy scriptures tes- 
tify both these things of him, that, different from all other 
men, he alone had in himself a glorious generation from the 
most high Father, and that he also accomplished a glorious 
birth of a virgin ; that he was a man without beauty, ob- 
noxious to sufferings, riding on an ass's colt, drinking vine- 
gar and gall, despised of the people, and bowing down even 
to the death ; that he was the holy Lord, the wonderful 
Counsellor, beautiful in form, the mighty God, coming in 
the clouds the Judge of the universe. All these things have 
the scriptures prophesied concerning him. For as he was 
man that he might undergo temptations; so was he the 
Word that he might receive glory; the Word lying dormant 
that he might be liable to temptation, and dishonour, and 
crucifixion, and death ; but the man being taken into the 
Word, that in it he might sustain his sufferings, and con- 
quer, and rise, and be taken up into heaven 

93. Again : — " They again who say, that Jesus was 
merely a man, continuing in the bondage of their former 
disobedience, having to the last no conjunction with the 
Word of God the Father, nor receiving freedom through the 
Son, according to that saying of his own, If the Son make 
you free, ye shall be free indeed. But not knowing him, 
who is the Emmarmel of the virgin, they are deprived of 
his gift, which is eternal life. And not receiving the incor- 
ruptible Word, they continue in the mortal flesh, and are 
liable to the natural debt of death, not accepting the anti- 
dote of life f." 

94. Again : — " Our Lord redeeming us by his own blood, 
and giving his own soul for our souls, and his own body for 
our bodies, and pouring out the Spirit of the Father for the 
adunion and communion of God with men, bringing God 
down to men by the Spirit, and again, by his incarnation, 
raising man to God, and, in his advent, actually and assuredly 
conferring on us incorruptibility by communion with God ; 
the doctrines of heretics fall altogether. For they are vain, 
who hold this doctrine. The Ebionites also are vain, not 
receiving the union of God and man, by faith, into their 
souls J." 

• Lib. 3, cap. 21. t Lib. 3, cli. SI. % Lib 5, ch. l. 



502 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART VIII. 



95. Again:— -"All heretics are unlearned, and ignorant 
of the divine dispensations, particularly of the scheme res- 
pecting man, blind to the truth, and they contradict their 
own salvation. — Some introducing another Father beside 
the Demiurgus. Some again saying, that the world, and 
the substance of it were made by certain angels. Some, 
that the substance of the world sprang up from itself, and is 
self produced, far separate from him, who, according to them, 
is the Father. Some, that it took its substance from cor- 
ruption and ignorance, being among the things within the 
Father. Some treat the doctrine of our Lord's visible ad- 
vent with contempt, not admitting the incarnation. Some, 
ignorant of the dispensation of the virgin, say that he was 
begotten by Joseph. And some indeed affirm, that the eter- 
nal life could neither receive his soul, nor his body, but 
only the inward man.— -But all these are much later than 
those bishops to whom the Apostles delivered the care of 
the churches 

I have given the sentiments of this learned bishop and 
martyr pretty much at large. Considerably more to the 
same purpose might be selected from the five books of his 
valuable work. The above quotations, however, will be per- 
fectly sufficient to satisfy the reader what doctrines were 
esteemed apostolical by this venerable man, and how little 
dependence can be placed in the most confident assertions 
of the learned advocate of Socinianism, when he declares, 
that Irenaeus did not consider the Ebionites in the light of 
heretics f." 

96. About the close of the second century, or the begin- 
ning of the third, flourished Clemens Alexandrinus, the 
% friend of Irenssus, scholar of Pantsenus, and tutor of the fa- 
mous Origen. Some of his works are come down to our 
times, from whence it appears, that he was sound in his 
principles of the Christian faith. For in the exhortation to 
the Gentiles, he stiles Christ the living God, that was then 
worshipped and adored : — Believe, says he, O man, in him 
who is both man and God: believe, Oman, in him who 
suffered death, and yet is adored as the living Godl" 

* Lib. 5, cap. 19. t See Dr. Priestley's View of the Arguments 

for the Unity of God, p. 21. * Clem. Protreptic. p. 84. ' 



sect. 5, Opinions of the Christian Fathers. 503 

9/ . Again : — In the end of his Pedagogue, he himself 
addresses his prayers to the Son jointly with the Father, in 
ihese words : — Be merciful to thy children, O Master, O 
Father, thou Ruler of Israel, O Son, and Father, who are 
both one, our Lord *. 

9 ki . Again: — Speaking of some words of Plato, he saith 5 
I understand them to be spoken of the Holy Trinity ; for 
the third indeed is the Holy Ghost, the second is the Son, 
bi/ whom all things were made, according to the will of the 
Father f . 

99. Again : — " O children, our Pedagogue is like to God 
his Father, whose Son he is, without sin — he is God in the 
form of man, immaculate, who executes the will of his Fa- 
ther, the Word, God, who is in the Father, who is on the 
right hand of the Father, and with this form he is God J." 

1 00. Again : — " There is one Father of all things, one 
Word of all things, and one Holy Spirit, who is every 
where §." 

101. Again: — "Let us give thanks to the only Father 
and Son, to the Son and the Father, to the Son our teacher 
and master, with the Holy Spirit ; one in all respects ; in 
whom are all things ; by whom all things are one ; by whom 
is eternal existence; whose members we are \ whose is the 
glory and the ages ; who is the perfect good, the perfect 
beauty, all- wise and all-just : to whom be glory both now 
and for ever. Amen ||." 

102. And again: — "This (namely, the nature of the 
Son) is the greatest excellence, which disposes all things 
according to the will of the Father, and governs the universe 
in the best manner, effecting all things by an indefatigable 
and inexhaustible power, in which he so works as to see into 
hidden thoughts. For the Son of God never leaves his 
watch-tower, being not divided, not separated, not moving 
from place to place, but being always every where, and no 
way circumscribed or limited, all intellect, all his Father's 
light, all eye, seeing all things, hearing all things, knowing 
all things, searching powers by his power. To him the 
whole host of angels and gods are subject 

* Poedag. lib. 3, ch. 12, p 311. + Strom, lib. 5. i Pa-dag. 
lib. 1, ch. 2. § |1 Pacd. lib. 7, ch. 7. % Strom, 

lib. 7, 



504 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART VIII. 



All these are authors of the second age, and may be con- 
sidered the third in succession from the Apostles. Christ 
taught the Apostles ; the Apostles taught Ignatius, Polycarp, 
and others 5 Polycarp taught Irenseus and his contemporaries. 
In this short space of time there was no great room for the 
introduction of erroneous doctrines, especially as the believers 
of those days were extremely jealous of innovation, and had 
the sacred oracles in their hands. 



sect. 6. Opinions of the Christian Fathers. 



505 



PART EIGHTH. 

SECTION VI. 
♦ 

THE OPINIONS OF THE CHRISTIAN FATHERS, AND OTHERS, 
OF THE THIRD CENTURY, CONCERNING THE PERSON OF 
CHRIST, AND THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



Testimonies in support of the Deity of Jesus, and the 
Doctrine of the Trinity. — Minutius Felix considered 
our Redeemer as more than man. — Tertullian — Milner 
too severe upon his Character and Writings. — His 
opinion : — The opinion of Origen, the most learned of 
the Christian Fathers : — Of Cyprian Bishop of Cir- 
thage : — Of Gregory, a disciple of Origen's : — Of 
Dionysius Alexandrinus : — Of Dionysius Romanies : 
— Cuius : — Hippolitus : — Africanus : — Novatian, 8$c. 

The doctrine of the first and second ages is sufficiently 
clear and satisfactory. We will now proceed to take a con- 
cise view of the doctrine contained in the writings of the 
third century, where we shall find the same sentiments 
abundantly confirmed by a still larger number of learned 
and excellent persons. The first author we will begin 
with, is, 

103. Minutius Felix. He lived in the beginning of the 
third century, Cave says about the year 220. In that elegant 



506 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART VII f. 



little work of his, intitled Qctavius, he tells us the Chris- 
tians of his time neither worshipped a criminal nor a mere 
man for a God. But as they certainly did pay divine ho- 
nours to Jesus Christ in that age, it follows as a necessary 
consequence, that they must have considered him as more 
than human. His words are thus translated Whereas 
you (Heathen) tax our religion with the worship of a crimi- 
nal and his cross ; you are strangely out of the way of truth, 
to imagine either that a criminal can deserve to he taken 
for a Deity, or that a mere man can possibly be a God. 
He surely is miserable in good earnest, whose hopes all 
hang upon a mortal ; for his whole comfort expires with 
the man." This fully implies, that this excellent lawyer 
considered the Redeemer as more than a mere man. 

104. Tertullian was born at Carthage about the year of 
our Lord 156, became a convert to Christianity, and was 
baptized in 196, and, after various revolutions in his reli- 
gious sentiments, died at the place of his nativity, A. D. 
246, in about the 90th year of his age. 

Mr. Milner, in his very valuable History of the Church of 
Christ, vol. 1. sect. 3. ch. 2. has been, in my opinion, some- 
what too severe upon the character and writings of this 
great man. They may not, they do not, abound with all 
those evangelical views that might be wished ; but yet seve- 
ral of the essential doctrines of the gospel are clearly and 
strongly defended. Jerbme says, that his Apology takes in 
all the treasures of human learning. Lactantius tells us, 
that he has fully pleaded the Christian cause. Tincentius 
acknowledges him to be the smartest, strongest, and most 
irresistible writer of the age ; and that he is such a genius 
among the Latins, as Origen was among the Greeks. 
Balsac, his Editor, speaks very highly of him. And even 
St. Cyprian, of whom Mr. Milner has spoken with so much 
just approbation, never passed a day without reading some 
of this great man's writings, and was wont to say, when he 
called for Tertullian's works, Give me my master. He 
was certainly an extraordinary man, and an able writer in 
defence of the doctrines of the gospel, before he was sedu- 
ced to Montanism. A few extracts from his writings will 
satisfy the reader concerning his general principles, though, 
it must be observed, he is not always consistent with himself. 



sect. 6. Ofrinions of the Christian Fathers, 50/ 

" That is the rule of faith/' saith this learned and elo- 
quent man, " by which we profess what we believe, namely, 
that, by which we believe, that there is only one God, and 
no other besides the Creator of the world, who made all 
things of nothing by his Word first of all sent forth ; that 
the Word, calied the Son, appeared variously to the patri- 
archs in the name of God, always spoke in the prophets, 
lastly, was brought down into the virgin Mary by the Spirit 
and power of God the Father, was made flesh in her womb, 
and being born of her, became Jesus Christ, from thence 
preached a new law and a new promise of the kingdom of 
heaven, wrought miracles, being fastened to a cross rose 
again the third day, being taken up into heaven he sat down 
at ihe right hand of the Father, sent the power of the Holy 
Spirit to supply his absence, and to influence those who be- 
lieve, that he will come v-.ith glory to receive his saints to 
the enjoyment of eternal life and the heavenly promises, and 
to judge the wicked to everlasting fire, when the resurrec- 
tion of the flesh shall have taken place. This rule, instituted 
by Christ, admits of no questions among us who are not 
heretical, and make the persons concerned in them here- 
tics*." 

105. cc We believe that there is only one God, but 
under this dispensation, which we call ceconomy, that the 
Son his Word, who proceeded from him, by whom he 
made all things, and without whom nothing was made, is of 
that one God; that he was sent by the Father into the 
virgin, and born of her, man and God, the Son of man and 
the Son of God, called Jesus Christ; that he suffered, died, 
and was buried accoraing to the scriptures ; that he was 
raised by the Father, taken into heaven, and seated at the 
right hand of the Father; that he shall come to judge both 
the quick and the dead; that he sent down, according to his 
own promise, the Holy Ghost the Comforter from the Fa- 
ther, the Sanctifier of all those who believe in the Father, 
and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; that this rule had come 
down from the beginning of the gospel, even before any of 
the ancient heretics, much more before the modern Praxeas ; 
both the late rise of all the heretics in general, and the 

* De Prescript, adversus Hseret. p. 73. 



508 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART VIII. 



novelty of Praxeas in particular, but of yesterday, will 
prove *." 

106*. "The Father is God, the Son is God, and the 
Holy Ghost is God, and every one of them is God f." 

107. " The connection of the Father in the Son, and of 
the Son in the Paraclete, makes three cohering one from 
the other ; which three are one thing, not one person, as it 
is said, I and the Father are one, with respect to unity of 
substance, not to singularity of number J." 

1 08. " The name of the Father is, God Almighty, the 
Most High, the Lord of Hosts, the King of Israel, who is, 
as the scriptures teach. These we say belong to the Son 
likewise, and that the Son came in these, and always acted 
in them, and so manifested them in himself to men. All 
that the Father hath, saith he, is mine ; why then not his 
names ? Wherefore when thou readest Almighty God, and 
the Most High, and the Lord of Hosts, and the King of 
Israel, and He who is ; consider whether the Son be not 
demonstrated hereby ; who is, in his own right, God Al- 
mighty, as he is the Word of Almighty God§." 

109. " It is the property of the faith of a Jew, so to 
admit the Divine Unity, as not to include therein the Son, 
and after him the Spirit. For what difference is there be- 
tween the Jews and us but this? What need of the gospel, if 
it do not clearly hold out to us the Father, the Son, and the 
Spirit, as constituting the Divine Unity ? God hath so 
ordered this new sacrament (baptism) that his Unity should 
now be believed in a new manner, as inclusive of the Son 
and of the Spirit ; and that God, whose Unity was not 
clearly apprehended, as comprehensive of the Son, and of 
the Spirit, when he was preached in time past, might now 
be openly known according to his proper names and per- 
sons ||." 

110. " We Christians do affirm a spirit to be the pro- 
per substance of the Logos, by whom all things were made, 
in which he subsisted before he was manifested, and was the 
Wisdom that assisted at the creation, and the power that 



* Adversus Praxean, cap. 2. 

% Ibid. cap. 25. 

g Adv. Piax. sect. 31. 



t Cont. Prax. cap. 13. 
§ Ibid. cap. 17. 



sect. 6. Opinions of the Christian Fathers, 509 

presided over the whole work. The Logos, or Word, issuing 
forth from that spiritual substance at the creation of the 
world, and generated by that issuing or progression, is for 
this reason called the Son of God, and the God, from his 
unity of substance with God the Father, for God is a spirit. 
An imperfect image we have of this in the derivation of a 
ray from the body of the sun ; for this ray is a part without 
any diminution of the whole, but the sun is always in the 
ray, because the ray is always in the sun ; nor is the sub- 
stance separated, but only extended. Thus it is in some 
measure in the eternal generation of the Logos ; he is a 
Spirit off a Spirit ; a God off God, as one light is generated 
by another: the original, parent light, remaining entire and 
undiminished, notwithstanding the communication of itself 
to many other lights. Thus it is that the Logos which 
came forth from God, is both God and the Son of God, and 
those two are one. Hence it is, that a Spirit off a Spirit, 
or a God off God, makes another in mode of substance, but 
not in numericalness or idenity of essence ; and so the Son is 
subordinate to the Father as he comes from him as the prin- 
ciple, but is never separated, This ray of God then de- 
scended, as it was foretold, upon a certain virgin, and in 
her womb was incarnated, and being there fully formed the 
God-Man, was born into the world ; the divine and human 
nature making up this person, as soul and body do one 
man. — This is the Christ, the God of Christians *'* — This, 
and much more than this to the same purpose, is to be found 
in the writings of this great man. We will now pass on to 
the works of one that is greater than he. 

111. Origen is generally considered as the most learned 
of all the Christian fathers. He was born at Alexandria, 
A. D. 185, and after much persecution, and infinite labour 
in promoting the cause of learning and truth, he died at 
Tyre, A. D. 253, in the 69th year of his age. Of the pre- 
existence and divinity of Christ, with other points there- 
with connected, he hath largely spoken, upon various occa- 
sions. The following extracts from his works will justify 
tliese assertions, 



* Apol. cap, 21. 



510 DEITY OF JESUS. PART VII f, 

" Whereas there are many, who think they understand 
Christianity, and yet some of them differ from their ances- 
tors ; and whereas the doctrine of the church is preserved, 
being delivered down from the Apostles by the order of suc- 
cession, and remains in the churches to this very time, that 
only is to be believed true, which in nothing differs from 
the church's tradition. Now we must know that the holy 
Apostles, when they preached the Christian faith, treated 
very plainly concerning some points, which they thought 
necessary to salvation for all believers 5 though before those 
who were not forward in their search after divine know- 
ledge ; leaving the reasons of their assertions to be inquired 
into by those, who should be thought worthy to receive from 
the Spirit the excellent gifts of the Spirit, and especially 
the gifts of the word of wisdom and knowledge. Of other 
points, they only said, that they were, but said nothing how, 
or whence they were 5 that so all those of their posterity, 
who were more studious than others, and lovers of know- 
ledge and wisdom, might have scope for the exercise of their 
wit, namely, those who should make themselves worthy and 
capable of wisdom. Now the particulars, which were 
plainly treated in the apostolical instruction, are these : 
First, That there is one God, who made and composed all 
things, and who made them out of nothing, &c. — that this 
God, as he had promised before by his prophets, sent the 
Lord Jesus Christ in the last days, &c— then, that this Jesus 
Christ who came, was born of the Father before every crea- 
ture : that he, when he had ministered to the Father in the 
creation of all things (for by him were all things made) 
emptying himself in the last days, was made man ; was in- 
carnate, though God : and remained God, though made 
man. He assumed a body like unto our body, with this 
only difference, that he was born of the virgin by the Holy 
Ghost *" 

112. "By the gospel it is revealed, that all things were 
made by the Son, and that without him nothing was made. 
Let him, then, who reads, understand from this, that the 
name of the Almighty is not more ancient in God than the 
name of the Father 5 for by the Son the Father is almighty 5 



* Ap. Pamp. Mart, apud opera Jer. vol. 9« 



SECT. 6. 



Opinions of the Christian Fathers. 



5H 



for through Wisdom, which is Christ, God holds the univer- 
sal dominion, not only by authority of him who has the do- 
minion, but even by the spontaneous duty of those who are 
subject to him. But that you may confess that the Father 
and the Son possess one and the same omnipotence, as he 
is one and the same God and Lord with the Father, hear 
John in the Revelation speaking in this manner: These 
things saith he, zuhich is, and ivhich ivas, and which is to 
come, the ALMIGHTY. Rev. 1. 8. But who is to 
come, the Almighty, besides Christ ? As none should be 
offended that the Father is God \ and that the Saviour like- 
wise is God ; so none should take offence seeing the Fa- 
ther is almighty, that it is also said, the Son is almighty. 
For in this manner that will be true which he saith to the 
Father, For all mine are thine, and cdl thine are mine, 
and I am glorified in them. John 17. 10. But if all 
which belong to the Father are Christ's, among the all 
things appertaining to the Father is also omnipotence, with- 
out doubt the only-begotten Son also ought to be omnipo- 
tent, that all things which the Father hath, the Son may 
have also 

113. " Let us describe as well as we can what an here- 
tic is : Every one who professes to believe in Christ, and 
yet says there is one God of the law and the prophets, and 
another of the gospels, &c. — Our opinion must be the same 
concerning those who have any false notions of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, whether according to them, who say he was 
born of Joseph and Mary, such are the Ebionites and Valen- 
tinians j or according to them who deny him to be the 
First-born, the God of the whole creation, the Word, and 
Wisdom, which is the beginning of the ways of God, be- 
gotten before any thing was made, before the foundation of 
the worlds, before all the hills ; and who say that he is only 
man f" 

114. " We worship one God, the Father and the Son y 
and our reasoning stands still in full force against others ; 
neither do we give divine honour to an upstart being, as if 
he had no existence before. For we believe him when he 
says, Before Abraham zvas, I am ; and again, / am the 



* Peri Archon, vol. X, 



t Com. on Tit, 3. 10,. 



512 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART VIII. 



truth. Neither is any of us of so mean and servile under- 
standing, as to imagine, that the substance of Truth had not 
a being before the appearance of Christ in the flesh. There- 
fore we worship the Father of Truth, and the Son, who is 
the Truth, two things in personal substance, but one in 
agreement, and consent, and identity of will ; so that who- 
ever sees the Son, tvho is the brightiiess of the glory of 
God, and the express image of his person, sees God in 
him, as being the true image of God 

115. " We worship one God, and his only Son, and 
Word, and Image, with supplications and prayers to the 
utmost of our power, offering our prayers to God over all, 
by his only-begotten Son ; to whom we first present them, 
beseeching him, who is the propitiation for our sins, as our 
High-Priest, to offer our prayers, and sacrifices, and inter- 
cessions to God, the Lord of all things. Therefore our faith 
relies only upon God, by his Son, who confirms it in us. 
And, therefore, Celsus has no reason or colour for his charge 
of sedition, or departing from God upon the account of his 
Son; for we worship the Father, whilst we admire and 
adore the Son, who is his Word, and Wisdom, and Truth, 
and Righteousness, and whatever else we are taught to be- 
lieve of the Son of God, begotten of such a Father f." 

116. From the account which is given us by Eusebius, 
of Berryllus, bishop of Bosra, in Arabia, we may more fully 
understand what were the real sentiments of Origen respect- 
ing the person of our Saviour. For when this Berryllus ha4 
embraced some new doctrines foreign to the faith ; " daring 
to affirm that our Lord and Saviour, before his coming 
among men, had no proper and distinct subsistence ; nei- 
ther any Godhead of his oivn, but only the Deity of the 
Father residing in him he was reproved by Origen for his 
want of orthodoxy ; and being convinced of the error of his 
new opinions, he was brought back to the true faith. — See 
Euseb. Eccl. Hist. 1. 6. cap. 33.— The learned Fiddes in his 
Theologia Speculativa gives us the opinions of Origen con- 
cerning the nature of Christ in a few words, referring to the 
several places in his works where the authorities may be 
found. Origen declares, says this writer, that " Christ is 



* Cont. Cel. 1. 8. p. 385. 



t Ibid. p. 386. 



sbct. 6. Opinions of the Christian Fathers. 513 

properly Son of God : — Son by nature, and not by adoption : 

—eternal :— —eternally generated : uncreated — -creator : 

God by nature ; the power and wisdom of God, frequently : 
— consubstantial :— -omnipresent : — immutable : — incom- 
prehensible — From these several quotations it incon- 
testably appears, that whatever might be the sentiments of 
Origen concerning the person of Christ, and the doctrine of 
the Trinity, the opinions of Socinus are so far from receiving 
countenance, that they are directly condemned. 

117. Cyprian was born towards the latter end of the 
second century, converted from Paganism to Christianity, 
A. D. 246, made bishop of Carthage in 248, and received 
the crown of martyrdom, A. D, 258. He has given us the 
most unequivocal declarations of his sentiments on the sub- 
jects now under consideration. " Nor did Jesus Christ/' 
says he, " our God and Lord, teach us how to behave in 
this particular by word only ; but his practise accompanied 
his instructions, and he led us by example as well as by 
precept f" 

118. " This is our God, not the God of all, but of us 
Christians only who believe and trust in his name $/' 

119. " God, the Father, hath appointed that adoration 
should be paid to his Son ; and the apostle Paul, in con- 
formity to that appointment, hath expressly told us, that 
God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name, 
which is above every name ; that at the name of Jesus 
every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in 
earth, and things under the earth. And in the book of 
Revelation, we may observe the angel restraining John, 
who would have worshipped him, from doing it, saying, 
See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow -servant, and one of 
thy brethren ; adore the Lord Jesus. How uncommon a 
person must this Jesus be, and with what extraordinary 
patience endowed ; who, though he be worshipped in hea- 
ven, is not yet avenged upon earth §/' 

120. " Daniel, and the three famous youths, observed 
more especially the third, the sixth, and the ninth hours ; 
three remarkable distinctions, with some eye of allusion and 



• Vol 1. b. 4, chap. 2. p* 391. t In Pat sect. 4. 

% Ibid, sect, 16; $ Ibid, sect, l& 

li i 



5H 



39EITY OF JESUS, 



PART Vlli, 



regard to the blessed Trinity, which was afterwards to be 
revealed to the world in these latter days : for the first hour 
advancing to the third, gives us one notion of a Trinity ; the 
fourth proceeding to the sixth gives us another 5 and last of 
all the seventh carried on to the ninth, exhibits the perfec- 
tion of the ternary number — This is surely a very fanci- 
ful interpretation, and without any just foundation in the 
meaning of the Spirit ; but it shews sufficiently well how 
strongly the doctrine of the Trinity was impressed upon the 
mind of this good man. 

121,. "Our Saviour hath said, / and my Father are one. 
And again it is written of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
that these three are onef" 

1 22. " Of this grace of God, this new oeconomy, this 
latter method of salvation, the Word, and Son of God is 
made the messenger and manager, who by all the prophets, 
go as far backward as you please, was spoken of under that 
character, as a teacher sent from God, t<r enlighten man- 
kind sitting in darkness. This is the power, the Word, the 
Wisdom, the Glory of God. He descended into the womb 
of a Virgin, and through the operation of the Holy Ghost, 
took upon him our flesh; and God by these wondrous 
means united himself to man. This Christ is our God 9 
and being a Mediator between two, he put on the man, that 
he might lead him to God his Father; Christ became man, 
that man might become like Christ %'* 

123. " Christ was the First-begotten and the Wisdom 
of the Father by whom all things were made 

124. " The angel who appeared to the patriarchs fa 
Christ and God\\." 

125. " Christ is God f .. 

126*. " Christ, who is Gody was to come and enlighten, 
and save mankind **." 

127* Christ, though always the Son of God, was to be 
born however according to the flesh ff /' 

128* " Christ was God and man, that he might be the 
fitter to be the Mediator between them %%" 

* De Orat. Donv sect, 21. t De Unit. Ec. sect. 5. t De vanit. 
idol. sect. 6. § Test, adver. Jud. lib. 2, sect. 1. || Ibid, sect. 5. 
f Ibid, t«cfc 6. I Ibid,se<t. 7. tt Ibid, sect- 8. « Ibid, sect. 10» 



sect. 6. Opinions of the Christian Fathers, 5 IS 



129. "We have an advocate with the Father Jesus 
Christ, our Lord and God*." 

130. " Our Lord after his resurrection instructing his 
disciples how they should baptize, says ; Jill the power is 
given unto me in heaven and in earth j go ye therefore 
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the, 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Here he 
intimates the Trinity, in whose sacrament the nations were 
to be baptized. Does Marcion believe this Trinity ? Does 
he believe the same Father the Creator, as we believe in ? 
Does he acknowledge the same one Son Christ, born of the 
virgin Mary; who, being the Word, was made flesh, and 
suffered for our sins ? Marcion and all other heretics hold a 
very different faith f. 

131. " If any one could be baptized among the heretics, 
he might also obtain remission of sins : and if he obtained 
remission of sins, be sanctified and made the temple of God. 
I ask, Of what God ? If of the Creator : he could not, who 
did not believe in him : if of Christ ; neither could he be 
his temple, who denies Christ to be God : if of the Holy 
Spirit, since these three are one ; how could the Holy Spirit 
be reconciled to him, who is an enemy to the Father and 
the Son %." 

It is not meant to justify the reasonings of the several 
passages which are produced in this treatise, whether from 
the Jews, the Heathens, or the Christian fathers ; but only 
to prove this matter of fact, that the doctrine of the Trinity, 
in a light more or less obscure, was taught by these several 
denominations of men. 

132. Gregory, bishop of Neocaesarea, was the disciple, 
and the glory of the famous Origen. He was made bishop 
in 239, and died in peace, A. D. 265. His Creed is well 
known. « There is one God," says he, " the Father of the 
living Word, the subsisting Wisdom, and power, and eternal 
Character; the perfect Begetter of him that is perfect, the 
Father of the only-begotten Son, the Lord alone off him who 
is alone; God off God; the impress and image of the 
Deity, the effective Word. The Wisdom which compre- 
hends the constitution of the universe, and the power which 

*JBpb*H. t Apud. Ep. 79, % Ibid. 

h\2 



516 



DEITY OF JFSTJS. 



PART VIII. 



made the whole creation ; true Son of the true Father ; 
invisible off invisible, incorruptible off incorruptible, immor- 
tal off immortal, and eternal off eternal. And one Holy 
Spirit, who hath his existence from God, and who appeared 
by the Son, namely, to mankind. The image of the Son, 
perfect off perfect, the Life, the Author of the living, the 
holy Fountain, Holiness, and the giver of sanctification, in 
whom God the Father is manifested, who is over all, and 
God the Son who is through all. The perfect Trinity, not di- 
vided or alienated in glory, eternity and kingdom. There is, 
therefore, nothing, created, nothing servile, in the Trinity. 
Nothing superinduced, that was not before, but came in 
afterwards. The Father always had a Son, and the Son a 
Spirit. There was always the same Trinity without change 
or turning.*' 

133. Again: — " Let us commit hymns and praises to the 
King and Creator of the universe, the sufficient fountain of 
all good things, to him who herein heals our infirmities, and 
is alone able to supply our defects, to the Prince and 
Saviour of our souls, to his first-begotten Word, the Crea- 
tor and Governor of all things ; since he alone can send up 
to the Father perpetual and incessant thanksgivings for him- 
self, and for "us all, particularly and universally. For he 
being the Truth, the Wisdom and Power of the Father of 
all things 5 furthermore, being in him, and naturally united 
to him, it is not possible, that out of forgetfulness or impru- 
dence, or any infirmity, like one who is remote from him, 
he should either not reach the Power of powers, or though 
he can, should voluntarily (which is not to be supposed) 
omit it. He only is able perfectly to fulfil all that dignity of 
praises which belong to him \ he whom the Father of all 
things having united to himself, he himself only not con- 
taining himself in him, hath in a certain manner honoured 
with an every way equal power to that of his own ; and is 
honoured by him, which he the first and only one of all 
beings hath obtained, he the only-begotten, God the Word 
in him. — The most perfect, the living, the animate Word of 
Hm 9 the first Mind* " 



* Opera Greg. Thauraat, passim. 



sect. 6. Opinions of the Christian Fathers. 517 

134. Dionysius Alexandrinus studied under Origen, was 
made bishop of Alexandria, A. D. 247, and died there in 
26*5. He calls Christ — Uncreated and the Creator — God 
by nature, the Word of the Father — consubstantial with the 
Father. — Christ is immutable, as being God the Word. — 
Christ is God over all, our refuge. — Jesus Christ, who is 
God over all, the Lord and God of Israel. — He shall not 
escape unpunished, who blasphemes the benevolent Spirit : 
for the Spirit is God*/* 

135. u To God, even the Father, and his Son our Lord 
Jesus Christ, with the Holy Ghost, be glory and power, for 
ever and ever. Amen f 

136. Dionysius Romanus was made bishop of Rome, 
A. D. 259, and died in 269. Nothing of his remains but 
some fragments, in which he says : — I may justly speak 
against them, who divide, split, and destroy the most vene- 
rable doctrine of the church of God, making the monarchy 
three certain powers, separate subsistences, and three Deities. 
For I am persuaded that some of the cateehists and preachers 
of God's word teach this opinion ; men diametrically oppo- 
site to the heresy of Sabellius. For he blasphemes in saying 
that the Son is the Father ; they, on the other hand, preach 
up three Gods, after a sort, dividing the Holy One into three 
hypostases, alien from one another, and wholly separate. — 
For it is necessary that the Divine Word be united to the 
God of the universe. The Holy Ghost also must closely 
adhere to and abide in God. And it is also absolutely ne- 
cessary that the sacred Three be summed up, and gathered 
together into one, as a certain centre, that is, into the al- 
mighty God of the universe." 

137. "It is no common, but the greatest blasphemy, 
to say, that the Lord was made with hands." 

138. "We ought not either to divide the wonderful Di- 
vine Unity into three Deities, or to mutilate the dignity and 
the excellent greatness of our Lord, by saying, that he is 
created ; but to believe in God the Father Almighty, and in 
Jesus Christ his Son, and in the Holy Ghost, and to believe 
that the Word is united to the God of the universe. For, 
says he, I and the Father are one : and, I in the Father, 

• Epist. adv. Paul, passim, i frag, apud Basil. 



518 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART VII t. 



and the Father in me : so would the Divine Trinity, and the 
sacred doctrine of the monarchy be preserved 

139. Caius, the presbyter of Rome, lived about the mid- 
dle of the third century ; and we are told by Photius, that 
he spake exactly of the divinity of Christ, our true God ; 
he both called him by the name Christ, and unexceptionably 
described his ineffable generation from the Father 

140. This same Caius observes, that there were anciently 
many psalms and hymns composed by the brethren, and 
transcribed by the faithful, setting forth the praises of Christ 
as the Word of God, and ascribing divinity to him $" 

141. Hippolitus, the martyr and bishop of Portua, was 
the disciple of Clemens Alexandrinus, and flourished about 
the year 220. In the few fragments of his works which re- 
main, he says : — The Divinity is such after the incarnation, 
as it was before, in nature infinite, incomprehensible, with- 
out passions, change or variation, power itself, and, to say 

. all, essentially subsisting, and the only infinitely powerful 
good." 

142. "To him (Christ) be glory and strength, together 
with the Father and the Holy Spirit, in the holy church, 
now and for evermore. Amen §." 

143. " If the Word was with God, bei?ig God, why shall 
any one object that we talk of two Gods ? I will not declare 
two Gods but one, yet two persons." 

144. " The Father is one, but there are two persons, be- 
cause there is a Son, and the third is the Holy Ghost. — 
We cannot think otherwise of God as one, unless we believe 
really in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. — Who- 
ever should leave out any one of the three, would not glorify 
God perfectly, for the Father is glorified by this Trinity, 
seeing the Father willed, the Son effected, the Spirit mani- 
fested \\r 

145. "We can have no right conception of the one 
God, but by believing in a real Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost %>\ 

146*. "He is said to be exalted, as having wanted it be- 
fore ; but in respect only of his humanity. And he has a 

* Frag, apud Athan. t Apud Bibliothecatn. % Ec. Hist, Euseb. 
c. 5- 1. 28. § Apud Anast. Bib. {j Hipp, c. Noet. p. 20, Ed, Fa- 
bricii. Cont. Noetum, passim. 



sect. 6. Opinions of the Christian Fathers* 31 £ 

name given him ; as it were a matter of favour, which is 
above every name, as the blessed Paul expresses it. But in 
truth and reality, this was not the giving him any thing, 
which he naturally had not from the beginning. So far 
from it, that we are rather to esteem it his returning to what 
he had in the beginning essentially and unalterably y oa 
which account it is, that he, having condescended to put on 
the humble garb of humanity, said, Father, glorify me with 
the glory which I had with thee before the world was ; 
For he was always invested with divine glory, having been 
coexistent with his Father before all ages, and before all time, 
and the foundation of the world*," 

147. About this period lived Africanus, a man, as Euse- 
bius says, expert in all manner of knowledge and literature. 
A doxology of his is still extant : — " We render thanks to 
him who gave our Lord Jesus Christ to be a Saviour, to whom 
^with the Holy Ghost be glory and majesty for ever f." 

148. Paulus Samosatenus, bishop of Antioch, denied the 
divinity of our Saviour in the third century. Against him 
was held one or more councils at Antioch. Six bishops of 
that age wrote to the said Paulus an epistle to dissuade him 
from his erroneous opinions, which epistle is still extant. — - 
In this letter they trace the divinity of Christ up to the times 
of the Apostles, and then assert this to be the true apostolical 
faith concerning the person of our blessed Lord ; namely, 
That he is the Wisdom, the Word, and the Power of God, 
existing before ages, not in foreknowledge, but in essence 
and subsistence, God and the Son of God J. The names of 
these six bishops were Hymenaeus, Theophilus, Philotecnus, 

Jtfaximus, Proclus, and Bolanus. 

149. Novatian, the presbyter of Rome, lived about the 
middle of the third century. He wrote a treatise on the 
Trinity, which is usually considered as agreeable to the com- 
monly received doctrine. In this treatise are to be found 
many valuable remarks upon the subject now under consi- 
deration. The scripture, says he, as well declares God 
Christ, as man God. It has as well described the man 
Jesus Christ, as the God Christ our Lord. For it doth not 

* Hipp, vol, 2, p. 29. t Basil de Sp. Sancto, c. 29° $ Apud 
Bibl. Patrum, torn. 11. See teo Eccl, Hist, of Euseb. b. 7, c. 30. 



520 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART VIII. 



only propose him, as the Son of God, hut of man also ; so 
that heing off both, he is both, lest if he was only one, he 
could not be the other. For as nature has taught, that we 
should think him to be really in nature man, who is off man ; 
so the same nature hath taught, that we should believe him 
to be God, who is off God; lest, if he should not be God, 
though off God, he should not also be man, though off man : 
and both of them should be in hazard, each from the other, 
whilst the one is shown to destroy the credit of the other 

150. " If Christ is only a man, how is he present where- 
ever he is called upon, since this is not the nature of man, 
but of God, to be present in every place ? If Christ is only 
a man, why is the man invoked as a mediator in our prayers, 
since the invocation of a man to procure salvation must be 
judged ineffectual ? If Christ is only a man, why do we 
place our hope in him, since cursed is the hope that is 
placed only in man f." 

151. " If Christ were only a man, how could he say, I 
and my Father are one f For how is it, / and my Father 
are one, if he be not both Son and God ? who may there- 
fore be said to be one, as he is from him, and as he is his 
Son, and as he is begotten of him, and as he came from him, 
by which he is very God J." 

152. "Whereas it is the property of none but God to 
know the secrets of the heart, and yet Christ knows what is 
in man; whereas it is in the power of none but God to for- 
give sins, yet Christ doth forgive sins : whereas it is of no 
man to come down from heaven, and yet he descended from 
thence : whereas no man could utter that saying, I and my 
Father are one, and Christ alone, from a consciousness of 
his own divinity, did say it : and whereas, finally, the apos-^ 
tie Thomas, furnished as he was with every proof of Christ's 
divitaty, said in answer to him, My Lord, and my God ; 
whereas the apostle Paul writes in his Epistle, Whose are 
the fathers, and from ivhom, according to the flesh, Christ 
vame, who is over all God blessed for evermore : whereas 
the same apostle declares, that he was made such, not by 
man, or through man, but through Jesus Christ : whereas 
he contends that he learned the gospel, not of men, but by 



* De Tfinit. sect, 31. t Ibid, sect. 14. * Cap. 23. 



sect. 6. Opinions of the Christian Fathers. 521 

Jesus Christ : upon all these accounts we must conclude, 
that Christ is God*." 

153, Theognostus Alexandrinus lived sometime in the 
third century, and was the disciple of the great and justly 
celebrated Origen. A fragment of his, which still remains, 
bears ample testimony to the orthodoxy of his opinions on 
the subject before us : — -The essence of the Son, says he, 
is not something externally invented, nor something brought 
into being from nothing ; but it came from the essence of 
the Father, as splendour from light, or vapour from water. 
For neither the splendour nor vapour, is the very water, or 
the sun, nor is the essence of the Son something different 
from the Father, but the efflux of the Father's essence, that 
same essence of the Father not admitting division. For as 
the sun remains the same, and is not lessened by the rays 
it sends forth, so the essence of the Father undergoes no 
change, though it sends forth the Son, its image f." 

154. Lucian, the martyr, was a presbyter of the church of 
Antioch, in the third age, and a very eloquent and learned 
man. His creed is said to have been as follows: — "We 
believe agreeably to evangelical and apostolical tradition, in 
one God, the Father Almighty, Creator and Maker of all 
things ; and in one Lord Jesus Christ ; his only-begotten 
Son, God, by whom all things were made, begotten of the 
Father before all worlds, God off God, Whole off Whole, 
Alone off Alone, Perfect off Perfect, King off King, Lord off 
Lord ; the living Word, Wisdom, Life, the true Light, the 
Way of truth, the Resurrection, the Shepherd, the Door, 
Immutable and Unchangeable, the exact Image of the God- 
head, the Essence, Power, Counsel, and Glory of the Father, 
the First-born of every creature, who was in the beginning 
with God, God the Word, as it is written in the gospel, 
The W T ord was God ; by whom all things were made, and 
in whom all things consist, who in the last days came down 
from heaven, and was born of the virgin according to the 
scriptures : and in the Holy Ghost, which was given to the 
believers for their consolation, sanctification, and perfection \ 
as our Lord Jesus Christ commanded his disciples, saying, 
Go ye therefore, disciple all nations, baptizing them in itie 



* Ibid, c, 13. tj Apud Athan. 



522 DEITY Of JESUS. PART VIII. 

name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost ; 
namely, of the Father, who is truly Father ; of the Son, who 
is truly Son ; and of the Holy Ghost, who is truly Holy 
Ghost : the words not being simply words, and of no signi- 
fication, but accurately denoting the subsistence of every 
one named, and their glory and order ; so that they are in 
subsistence three, in consent one 

155. Methodius was a bishop of Tyre in the third age, 
and a martyr in the Dioclesian persecution. He wrote many 
things, but few of his pieces are now in being. It appears, 
however, from what remains of his works, that he was ortho- 
dox in the faith of the Son of God : For thus he speaks of 
the Word :■ — Though he was God, he took upon him human 
flesh, for this purpose, that we beholding the divine exem* 
plar of his life, set before us as in a table, might imitate the 
exactness of a painter in copying it. 

156. " Christ, the man, was full of the pure and perfect 
divinity, and as God, was after some sort included in the 
man." 

157. " For that he was, and truly is God, existing in the 
beginning with God, and existing as God, Governor and 
Pastor of the heavenly world, &c. f" 

158. Porphyrius, a martyr of Palestine, and one of the 
scholars of Pamphilus, about the middle of the third century, 
when he was surrounded with flames, we are told, called 
upon Jesus, the Son of God, to be his helper, and with those 
words gave up the ghost J. 

159. In the same year Acacius, bishop of Antioch, being 
carried before the president Martian, said to him,— If you 
think yourself bound to obey a man, who in a short time 
must leave the world, and his body become the food of 
worms : how much more strictly am I bound to obey the 
most powerful God, who lives forever, and who has said, 
He that shall deny me before men, him will I deny before 
my Father tvha is in heaven. Martian then said, — You 
have now all at once confessed that error of your people, 
which I always wished to be informed of. Has then God a 
Son ? A. He has. Q. Who is this Son of God ? A. The 
Word of truth and grace. Q. Is that his name ? A. You 

* Apud Athan. t Apud Bibliothecam, torn. 3. $ Euseb. 

M art. of Palestine, ch. 11. 



sect. 6. Opinions of the Christian Fathers. 52S 

did not ask me his name, but who he is. Q. Tell me his 
name. A. He is called Jesus Christ *. 

160. In the Acts of the martyrdom of Nicephorus, who 
suffered about the year 260, it is related, that Sapricius, who 
was first apprehended, was asked by the Governor, Of what 
profession are you ? A. I am a Christian. Q. Are you of 
the clergy ? A. I have the honour of being a priest.— He 
then added, We Christians acknowledge Christ for our Lord 
and Master $ because he is the true God, and the Creator 
of heaven and earth, and of all things therein f. 

161. In the year 250, Pionius, a priest of Smyrna, as also 
Subina, and Asclepiades, were apprehended and carried be- 
fore Polemon, and being asked what God he adored, Pionius 
answered : — The almighty God who created the heaven and 
earth, and all things therein, who hath made himself known 
to us by his Word, Jesus Christ. The President then 
addressing himself to Asclepiades, asked, What are you ? 
A Christian. Q. Of what church ? A. Of the catholic 
church. Q. What God do you worship ? A.Christ. What 
then, said Polemon, is that another God ? To which Ascle- 
piades replied, No, he is the same God whom they have 
just now confessed. 

When they were brought again before the Judges, these 
asked, Why do you not sacrifice ? A. Because we are Chris- 
tians. Q. What God do you worship ? A. Him who made 
the heavens and adorned them with lucid orbs ; who made 
the earth and decked it with flowers and trees, and fixed the 
bounds of the sea. Q. Do you mean him who was crucified? 
A. Yes, I mean him whom the Father sent for the salvation 
of the world £. 

162. Pierius, a presbyter of the church of Alexandria, 
flourished in the third age, and was a man of great eminence. 
His works are all lost ; but Photius tells us, that he was per- 
fectly sound in the article of Christ's divinity. 

Such is the evidence of the three first ages to the divinity 
of Christ, and those other doctrines which are therewith con- 
nected ; from whence it appears that these Fathers acknow- 
ledged the eternity and divinity of the Word, and of the 
Holy Ghost, with the Trinity of persons in the one living 

* Ruinart's Acts of the Martyrs, p. 141. t Ibid, p. 246. 
t Ruinart's Acts of the Martyrs, p. l?g. 



524 



DEITY OP JESUS. 



PART VIII. 



and true God. Whether they were right in so doing makes 
no part of our present inquiry. The matter of fact is all we 
are concerned to prove. The Holy Scriptures alone must 
determine the validity and importance of doctrines. 

* There is a good abridgment of the doctrines of the three first ages 
in the first volume of Dupin's New History of Ecclesiastical Writers, 

p. 179. 



sect. ?. Opinions of the Christian Fathers. 



PART EIGHTH. 



SECTION VIL 



OPINIONS OF THE CHRISTIAN FATHERS, AND OTHERS, WHO 
FLOURISHED IN THE FOURTH, AND THE BEGINNING OF 
THE FIFTH CENTURIES, CONCERNING THE PERSON OF 
CHRIST,' AND THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



The people of Phrygia worshipped Christ as God.St* 
Felix died praying to him as the Lord of heaven and 
earth, — Jesus adored as God by Thelica — Vitalis — ■ 
Victor — Euplius — Afra — Faustus — Jannarius, and 
Martialis. — Sentiments of Phileas — Quirmus — Arno- 
buts, and Lactantius. — Mr. Lindsey's rash assertion.— 
Testimonies of Alexander — Eusebius — Firmicus Ma- 
ternus — Athanasius — Macarius — -Hilary — Ausonius 
—Cyril — Basil, Sfc. — Dr. Fiddes sums up the evidence 
of the Christian Fathers. 

The sentiments of the primitive Christians, who lived 
sometime before the Council of Nice, have been detailed 
pretty much at large ; we will now proceed to lay before the 
reader a short view of the opinions, which prevailed on these 
great subjects, immediately before, during the time of, and 
for some years after, that important period. 

163. In the beginning of the fourth century a whole 
city in Phrygia, men, women, and children, were all burnt 



52* 



DEITY OP JESUS. 



PART TIIU 



to death, as they were at their devotions, " calling upon 
Christ, the God over all*" 

164. St. Felix, who suffered death at the same time, 
under the Dioclesian persecution, prayed in the manner 
following, during his last great conflict : — " O Lord God of 
heaven and earth, Jesus Christ, I bow my neck to thee as a 
sacrifice, who livest to all eternity ; to whom belong glory 
and magnificence forever and ever. Amen f," 

165. In the Acts of Thelica, who suffered about the 
same time, we have this prayer "I give thanks to the God 
of all kingdoms. Lord Jesus Christ, we serve thee. Thou 
art our hope, thou art the hope of Christians. Most holy 
God, most high God, God almighty, we give thanks to 
thee for thy great name J." 

166. Vitalis, a martyr in this century, St. Ambrose tells 
us, made this his last prayer:^-" O Lord Jesus Christ, my 
Saviour and my Goo, command that my spirit may be 
received 5 for I desire to obtain the crown: which thy holy 
angel hath shewed me §." 

167. Victor, who suffered death for the faith of Christ at 
Marseilles, about the year 303, in his speech to the Presi- 
dent said, " How worthy is he of our love and our adora- 
tion, who, when we were his enemies, loved us first, and in 
order to rescue us, remaining God, he became man, not 
diminishing his divinity, but cloathing himself with our 
humanity || 

168. When Euplius was suffering under the torments 
inflicted on him by his persecutors, Calvisianus said to 
him: — " Euplius, lay aside this madness, worship the gods, 
and you shall be set at liberty." To which he replied; " I 
adore Christ, I detest devils. I adore the Father, and the 
Son, and the Holy Ghost. I adore the holy Trinity, besides 
which there is no God 

169. Afra was burnt at Augsburgh in 304. When 
tied to the stake she prayed in the following words : — " O 
almighty Lord God, Jesus Christ, who tamest not to call 
the righteous, but sinners to repentance, fycJ' — And, when 
fire was put to the faggots, she prayed again in these words ; 

* Eus. Eccl. Hi6t. 1. 8, cap. 11. f Baron. Annals, 302. t Ibid, 303. 
| Export, ad Virg, vol. 1, p. 105. d Ruinart, p. 304. % Ibid, p. 439. 



sect. 7» Opinions of the Christian Fathers. S2J 

— "O Lord Jesus Christ, I give thee thanks, that thou has^- 
vouchsafed, &c. I offer this sacrifice of myself to thee, who 
with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest 
God, world without end. Amen 

170. In the same year, 304, Faustus, Januarius, and 
Martialis, who suffered at Cordova, said to Eugenius :— 
* We are Christians, who confess Christ, who is the one 
Lord, hy whom we and all things were made." — Martialis 
said, " Christ is my comfort, whom they with joy and ex- 
ultation have confessed. For there is one only God, the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, to whom praise and 
glory are due f." 

171. About the year 306, Phileas, bishop of Thumis in 
Egypt, was sent prisoner to Alexandria \ and being asked by 
the president Culsianus, " Is Christ God ? He replied, 
Yes. Q. Was God crucified ? A. He was crucified for our 
sslvation. Q. Was Paul God ? A. No ; he was a man 
like unto us, but the Spirit of God was in him, and wrought 
many signs and wonders by him 

172. Quirinus, bishop of Siscia, who suffered in the 
year 309, being asked by Maximus, " Why did you run 
away ?" replied, " I did not run away, but obeyed the com- 
mand of my Lord : for it is written, If they persecute you 
in one city flee into another. Q. Who commanded this ? 
A. Christ, who is the true God 

173. Peter, bishop of Alexandria, died a martyr about 
the year 311. From some small remains of his, it appears 
that he was sound in the faith concerning the Son of God. 
" The Word being made flesh/' says he, " by the will of 
God, and found in fashion as a man not deserted by the 
Divinity." 

174. 4 * God the Word, in the absence of man, accord- 
ing to the will of God, who is able to do all things, was 
made flesh in the womb of the virgin, not standing in need 
of the presence, or operation of man." 

175. "And he said to Judas, Dost thou betray the Son 
of man with a kiss? These things, and the like, and all the 
signs he did, and the powers shew that he was God, and 

# Ibid, p. 502, t Ibid, p, $97. t Ibid, P* 549, 5*9. 

$ Ibid, p. 



528 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART VIII, 



was made man. Both points then are demonstrated, that 
he was God by nature, and that he was man by nature 

176. Arnobius flourished in the very beginning of the 
fourth century. Seven books of his against the Gentiles are 
still extant, from which we learn that his sentiments, con- 
cerning the person of Christ, were much the same with those 
we have already produced. " Ought we not," says he, " to 
look upon Christ as God, and worship him with truly divine 
worship, from whom we have already received so many 
blessings ; and expect he will bestow much greater bles- 
sings onus hereafter? — Perhaps someone in a rage may 
say, Is Christ then God ? Yes, we will answer, he is God, 
—and was sent to us for a most important cause. — He was 
the sublime God, God from his internal root or generation ; 
and, being God, was sent by God his eternal Father to be 
the Saviour f" 

177. " If Christ was God, why was he seen in the form 
of man, and killed after the manner of man ? Answer : 
Could that invisible power, that incorporeal substance other- 
wise communicate himself to the world, and be present at 
the councils of men, than by assuming some covering of 
more solid matter, which might receive the darted ray of 
the eye, and upon which our dull sight might fix ? What 
mortal is there that could see him, that could behold him, 
if he should give himself to the world, such as he is in 
his primogenial nature, such as he would have in his own 
quality, in his Deity ? He, therefore, took upon him the 
form of a man, and veiled his power under the similitude of 
our kind, that he might be seen and beheld J. 

178. " But he was killed after the manner of men. 
Not he himself. For the Divinity is not subject to death ; 
nor can that which is one, simple, and not made of any 
parts, be destroyed by dissolution. Who then was seen to 
hang upon the cross, who died? The man which he put on, 
and carried about with him §." 

179. A Heathen in Arnobius tells him, and in him all 
the Christians of that age, that the gods were not enemies 
to them, because they adored the omnipotent God, not be- 

* Annot; of Grabe on the "Works of Bull, p, 172 t t Adv 1 Gentes, 
lib. 1. * Lib. 1, § Ibid, 



sect. 7. Opinions of the Christian Fathers. 529 

cause, says he, u You deify, and with your daily prayers 
worship a man that was born, and what is most infamous, 
one that was put to death with vile persons on a cross 

180. Lactantius was the most elegant writer of all the 
Christian fathers. He was brought up in Paganism, con- 
verted to Christianity in the latter end of the third century, 
and died in 316. He is generally supposed not to be so 
consistent in his opinions as most of those who preceded 
him 5 but he is sufficiently clear and satisfactory upon the 
pre-existence and divinity of our blessed Saviour. " When 
we say/' replies he to an objection, " God the Father and 
the Son, we do not say different, nor do we separate them 
both ; because the Father can not be without the Son, nor 
can the Son be separated from the Father. For he can't be 
called Father without a Son, nor can the Son be begotten 
without a Father. Since, then, the Father makes the Son, 
and the Son the Father, there is one mind, one spirit, one 
substance to them both. But the Father is as an overflow- 
ing fountain ; the Son as a stream running from it ; who, 
because faithful and dear to his supreme Father, is not 
separated, as the river is not from the fountain, nor the ray 
from the sun ; because both the water of the fountain is in 
the river, and the light of the sun in the ray f." 

181. "The Mediator was to be an example of virtue 
and holiness to his redeemed ones, which he could not be 
as God; wherefore he incarnated himself, to shew by his 
own conquering of the desires of the flesh, that the com- 
mission of sin was not necessary, but voluntary, and by his 
own pattern to encourage and enable us to overcome the 
lusts thereof J." 

182. " The most high God and Parent of all, when he 
would transfer his religion from the Jewish to the Christian 
church, he sent a teacher of righteousness from heaven, that 
so to his new worshippers he might by him give a new law; 
not, as he had done before, by man only. Nevertheless he 
would have him born as a man, that so, in all things, he 
might be like the supreme Father. For he, who is God the 
Father, the original and first principle of all things, be- 
cause he hath no parents, is most truly styled by Trisme* 

# Ibid,- t Lib. 4. cap. 29, * Ibid, cap, 25, 

m m 



530 DEITY OP JESUS, PART VIII. 

gistus, Avoir u§ Kdi Aforoz, without father and without mother, 
as being begotten of none. Therefore also it behoved the 
Son to be twice born, that so he might become A voir xcci 
A^nr^y without father and without mother. For in his 
first and spiritual birth he was without mother, being born 
of God the Father only, without the office of a mother; 
but, in his second and carnal generation, he was without 
father, being conceived in a virgin's womb, without the in- 
tervention of a human father: that so, having a middle 
substance between God and man, he might, as it were by 
the hand, conduct this frail and infirm nature of ours to im- 
mortality. He was made both the Son of God, through the 
spirit, and the Son of man, through the flesh ; that is to 
say, he is both God and man. The divine power appeared 
in him by the works which he did : the frailty of man ap- 
peared by the sufferings he underwent*," 

183. " That he was both God and man, compounded of 
two natures, we learn from the prophets, in their predictions 
concerning him f." 

All these authors lived, wrote, and finished their mortal 
career, before the Council of Nice. This is allowed by 
every party. Let any man judge then, what credit is due to 
Mr. Lindsey when he says — " If the matter is to be put to 
the vote as it were, it is absolutely necessary, that the less 
learned should be told, what upon inquiry will be found to 
be undeniably true, namely, that the Fathers of the three 
first centuries, and consequently, all christian people, for 
upwards of three hundred years after Christ, till the Council 
of Nice, were generally Unitarians, what is now called 
either Arian or Socinian %" How can you advance such an 
assertion, Mr. Lindsey ? What lengths will not false zeal 
for a party carry even worthy men ? As an honest man, and 
a lover of truth, you ought assuredly to retract this declara- 
tion. This I do not find you have ever yet done, thougU 
Mr. Burgh with such abundant evidence has proved the 
falsehood of it, and though your friend Dr. Priestley was so 
far convinced oi the invalidity of it as to declare, " he allows 
all that bishop Bull and Mr. Burgh ascribe to the Fathers 
of the second and third century ; I allow/' says he, " that 



* Lib- 



t Ibid. 



* Apology, p. 2$, 24. 



SECT. 7. 



Opinions of the Christian Fathers, 



531 



they held the doctrine of the divinity of the Son at least ; 
but it was in a qualified sense, -and by no means the same 
that was maintained after the Council of Nice." 

Be it as it may, the reader has now Mr. Lindsey's asser- 
tion, and the several declarations of the Fathers of the three 
first centuries before him, he will therefore be competent to 
judge for himself on what side the truth lies. 

184. Alexander became bishop of Alexandria in the 
year 313, In his time, and in his church, Arius arose, who 
denied the divinity of Christ. Alexander called a council 
of the bishops of Egypt and Lybia, in number about one 
hundred, to consider of the business, and they wrote a letter 
to the bishops of the neighbouring countries, in which they 
make use of these words : — " What these (Arius and his 
adherents) have taught contrary to the scriptures, is — that 
God was not a Father — that the Word of God did not exist 
from all eternity — that there was a time when the Son did 
not exist — and that lie was created out of nothing." — Then 
Alexander and his brethren add — Whoever heard such 
things as these; or, if he should happen to hear them, 
would not be astonished, and stop his ears that he might 
jiot hear them ? Or who is there that will not condemn 
these, when he hears John saying, In the beginning teas 
the Word, — and, by him all things ivere made * P" 

185. Eusebius, Bishop of Cesarea in Palestine, was born 
about the year 265, and died in 340, aged 75. He was an 
active member of the Council of Nice, and has written 
pretty largely upon the subjects of our inquiry. But as we 
have already quoted him on former occasions, we shall only 
produce in this place two or three short passages from his 
works. 

" The Son is the one perfect and only-begotten God off 
God — a second light like in all things to himself. — The 
generation of the Son is above all comparison, and not after 
the manner of any natural bodies. — The Son was begotten, 
not being for any time without existence, and afterwards 
made, but existing and pre-existing before everlasting ages, 
and co-existing always as a Son with the Father, and not 
being unbegotten, but begotten of the unbegotten Father, 



1 



* Socrates's Ec. Hist. 1. 1, cap. 6, 
M m 2 



5^2- 



DEITY GF JESUS. 



PART VIII. 



being the only-begotten word, and God off God/not emitted 
from the substance of the Father by any separation, section, 
or division, but receiving his essence by the ineffable and 
incomprehensible will and power of the Father, in a manner 
not to be expressed,, or comprehended by us, from all ages, 
or rather before all ages 

186*. " That he who spake to Abraham' and Moses was 
the Son of God," says this excellent writer, " is plain 
from his own words to Moses, when he said, I am the 
Lord that was seen by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob : so 
that he possitively assures us that he was seen by the Patri- 
archs. And, indeed, this is sufficiently told us in the ancient 
history; as when he is said to have appeared to Abraham in 
Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent. In what shape is 
also told us — that he appeared as a man. Now that this 
was no other than the Son of God, our Lord himself assures 
us, when he says — Abraham saw my day, and he rejoiced 
to see it j adding to their further astonishment, For before 
Abraham ivas, Tarn. Where it is plain, he fully asserts. 
his pre-existence. And this he insinuates to Moses, when 
he calls himself, I AM THAT I AM. And therefore the 
apostle Paul doth justly own him to be the mediator between 
God and the Israelites, when he says ; The law ivas given 
by angels in the hand of the mediator. So that this was 
the mediator that spake to Moses even before he became 
man. Even as the same apostle tells us, when he says : 
2%ere is but one Mediator between God and man r the 
Lord Jesus Christ f.** 

187. J- Firmicus Maternus presented a treatise on the 
errors of the Gentile religions to the Emperors Constantius 
and Constans in the year 342. In the treatise he applies 
the twenty-fourth psalm to the Son of God in the manner 
of Justin Martyr. He calls Christ " God" and " the Al- 
mighty God," — says that " the sin of Adam could only be 
compensated for by such a propitiation as Christ became 
for us ;** that therefore *' the Word of God united himself 
with a human body, that he might conquer death and de- 
liver man"- — that "human nature, by God and man in 
union might come from the merit of obedience to a reign 



* Euseb, Eemon. Evan. I 4. c. 2. 



t Cout. Marcel. I. 3. c. 21. 



sect. 7. Opinions of the Christian Fathers. 533 

of immortality."— He then closes his work with an admo- 
nition to the Emperors : — a Let your clemency look ever up 
to heaven ; from God let it ever wait for help; let it implore 
the venerable Deity of Christ ; and for the world's and your 
own salvation, offer to the God of salvation, spiritual sacri- 
fices * " 

188. Athanasius was born, A. D. 298. He became a 
presbyter of the church of Alexandria in 326, the year after 
the Council of Nice, when he was only about 28 years of 
age. He was chosen bishop of that see, upon the demise 
of Alexander, and, after a life of great labour and persecu- 
tion, he died in peace, A. D. 373, aged 75 years. The 
works he hath left behind him contain ample specimens of 
his great talents, and thorough acquaintance with the Arian 
controversy. I will produce a few extracts from his writ- 
ings, because that he was indisputably one of the most able 
defenders of the divinity of our blessed Lord of the age in 
which he lived; and though only a presbyter at that time 
in the church of Alexandria, one of the most active persons 
in the Council of Nice ; and, indeed, the great bulwark 
in the following years against the Arian heresy; insomuch 
that it was commonly said, " Athanasius against the world." 

" We confidently assert," says this great man, " and 
clearly prove the true religious faith out of the holy scrip- 
tures; and we place it as a candle on a candlestick. We 
alledge that the Son is naturally and substantially the Son 
of the Father ; of the same essence with him ; his only- 
begotten Wisdom; his true and only Word : that he was not 
made, not created ; but begotten of the substance of the 
Father ; that therefore he is truly and properly God ; being 
of one substance with God the Father : — that he is the ex- 
press and adequate representation of the person of the Fa- 
ther; light off light; the true and genuine power and 
image of his Father's substance. He always was, and is, 
and never was not : for the Word and Wisdom of the Fa- 
ther must certainly be eternal, as well as the Father f." 

189. Macarius, the Egyptian, was born in the very 
beginning of the fourth century. He appears to have been 
a man of personal piety. Fifty of his homilies, and some 

* Burgh's Sequel, p, 84, 85. t Orat. 1. adv. Arian. sect, & 

m m 3 



534 



DEITY OF JESUS. 



PART VIII. 



other treatise, are still extant. The divinity of Christ and 
the Holy Spirit with the doctrine of the Trinity are fre- 
quently made mention of in his writings. I will produce 
a few instances, and refer to the works themselves for 
others. 

a God, who is immense and surpassing all conception, 
lessened himself, out of mere goodness, and put on the 
member of this body/' 

190. " The Lord embodies himself that he may become 
the meat and drink of his people. — He appeared to every 
one of the holy fathers as he pleased and thought best for 
them; after one manner to Abraham, after another to Isaac, 
after a third to Jacob \ in a different way to Noah, to 
Daniel, to David ; to Solomon, to Esaias, and to every one 
of the Prophets; after one manner to Elias, after another 
to Moses 

191. "Consider well thy dignity, how valuable thou 
art 3 that God hath made thee above the angels, when he 
came also of his own accord in person upon earth, on thy 
errand and redemption. God himself and his angels came 
to thy salvation. For the King, the King's Son, held a 
consult with his Father, and the Word was sent, and took 
flesh upon him, and, concealing his divine nature, laid down 
his life upon the cross that he might save like by like. So 
great is the love of God towards man ! For thy sake he that 
cannot die chose to be crucified f" 

192. " Let us return glory to the Father, and to the 
Son, and to the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen J." 

193. "Hilary, bishop of Poictiers, wrote twelve books 
in defence of the Trinity, besides other works, and died in 
the year 367. His treatise on the Trinity is the largest 
and most methodical work of any that we have in all anti- 
quity upon this subject. To quote every thing that is im- 
portant in it is not consistent with the nature and brevity of 
our plan. I will therefore produce only two or three pas- 
sages to shew the harmony of his sentiments with those that 
are gone before. 

In the second book he says, "The mystery of the 
Trinity is immense and incomprehensible, not to be ex- 

* Horn. 4, passim. t Horn, 15, 

t Horn. 7. ad £n. and in many other places. 



sect. 7. Opinions of the Christian Fathers, 53S 

pressed by words, nor reached by sense. Being unperceiva- 
ble, it blinds our sight ; it exceeds the capacity of our 
understanding. I understand it not. Nevertheless I will 
comfort myself in this, that neither- do the angels know it, 
nor ages apprehend it, nor have the apostles inquired of it, 
nor the Son himself declared it." 

1 94. In the seventh book he says, " Jesus Christ is the 
true God, Son of the true God, born before all ages, and 
afterwards begotten off Mary." 

195. This learned Bishop sent on a certain occasion a 
morning and evening hymn in an epistle to his daughter 
Abra, which he conceived in the form of a prayer to Christ, 
for preservation from the perils of the day and night ; and 
concludes with the common doxology — " Glory to thee, O 
Lord, — glory to the Only-begotten — with the Spirit, the 
Comforter, now, and throughout all ages." 

196. Ausonius wrote about the year 375. He is full of 
the doctrine of the Trinity. In a poem entitled Gryphus 
he says, " The one God is three." In another, styled 
Ephemeris, he allots the first hours of the day to prayer. 
({ God," says he, " is to be invoked by me, and the Son of 
the most God; their majesty in conjunction with the Holy 
Ghost being equal." He then proceeds to the prayer itself 
which he addresses to Christ, whom he calls upon by the 
titles of, " Saviour, God, and Lord, Mind, Glory, Word, 
Son, very God off very God, light off Light*." 

197. Cyril, of Jerusalem, died in the year 386. We 
have several discourses of his still extant in the form of 
Catechetical Lectures, wherein he delivers his religious opi- 
nions with great freedom. He says, cf There is but one 
God, the Creator of all things, who is every where present, 
who is omniscient, omnipotent, and unchangeable." He 
adds, " There is one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of 
God, God begotten of God, like in all things to him who 
begat him, who was from all eternity, who sitteth now at 
his right hand and reigneth with him. — He is the Word, 
and the Word of God, truly united to the human nature. — - 
He assumed real flesh from the virgin — He was truly man, 
subject to human infirmities, and to death itself.— Concern- 



^ See Burgh's Sequel, p. 64. 



536 DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. PART VIII, 

ing the Holy Spirit we ought to have the same notions of 
him as of the Father and the Son. He is one, indivisible, 
almighty, and omniscient. He ought to be honoured as 
the Father and the Son, being one and the same Divinity 

198. Gregory Nazianzen, the best scholar of the most 
learned age of the ancient church, was born, A. D. 324, 
and died, A. D. 389. This great man, has spoken at large 
upon the divinity of Christ, and the doctrine of the Trinity, 
on several occasions. " We ought to acknowledge one God 
the Father, 3 ' says he, " unbegotten and without beginning, 
and one Son begotten of the Father, and one Spirit having 
his existence from God ; different from the Father, indeed, 
in that he has no power of fructification, and to the Son, 
as being unbegotten; but in other things of the same 
nature, the same honour, the same glory, and the same 
dignity f" 

He styles it in another place, the adorable Trinity, above 
and before the world ; before all time ; of the same ma- 
jesty, of the same glory, increate, invisible, above our reach, 
incomprehensible J, ,J 

And again he says, u We ought to hold one God, and 
to confess three subsistences, or three persons each with 
his respective property according to his subsistence §." 

These, with many other sentiments to the same purpose, 
are advanced by this learned and eloquent writer. 

199. St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, was born, A. D. 
333, and died, A. D. 397. He was an eminent instrument 
of good to the church in his day, and hath left us a consi- 
derable number of treatises on moral and religious subjects. 
Among others, he has written pretty much at large in de- 
fence of the deity of Christ and the Holy Spirit, with the 
doctrine of the Sacred Trinity. In this faith, it is well 
known, and generally allowed, this learned and laborious 
bishop both lived and died. In his one book on the divinity 
of Christ, and his three books concerning the Holy Spirit, 
as well as in his tract on the Apostle's Creed, he has treated 
pretty much at large on these profound and mysterious sub- 
jects. " The divinity of the Holy Trinity," says he, u is 
to be believed to be without beginning and without end, 

# Cateches. 11. et 16. p, 98 and 176. t Orat. 26, p. 445. 

% Orat. i2. p. 204. » Orat. 29. p. 490. 



sect. 7- Opinions of the Christian Fathers. 537 

although it is difficult for the mind of man to comprehend 
it. Hence it may not improperly be said concerning it, 
that we comprehend this only of it, that it cannot be fully 
comprehended. There is therefore one Godhead in the 
three, and there are three in whom is one Godhead, There 
is no confusion in the unity, neither is there any difference 
in the Trinity*." 

200. Basil the Great was born, A. D. 328, and died in 
378. He was the friend of Gregory Nazianzen, and worthy 
of the honour. As there is no question made concerning 
his religious sentiments ; I will only produce the following 
extract from his writings : 

" The Spirit is not to be supposed the same with the 
Father, from its being said that God is a spirit. Nor yet 
may the person of the Son and Spirit be imagined one and 
the same, from its being said again, If any one have not 
the Spirit of Chi'ist he is none of his : but Christ w in 
you. From hence indeed some have been led to mistake, 
as if the Spirit and Christ were the same. But what say 
we ? Namely, that the property of nature is hereby demon- 
strated, but not any confusion of the persons. The Father 
is he who hath a perfect essence, and stands in need of no- 
thing ; the root and fountain of the Son and Holy Ghost. 
The Son also is the living Word in the fulness of the God- 
head, and the offspring of the Father without any defect. 
In like manner the Spirit is full, not part of another, but 
considered as perfect and entire in himself. Thus the Son 
is inseparably united with the Father, and the Spirit is inse- 
parably united with the Son, there being nothing to divide, 
nothing which might cut off this eternal conjunction. There 
has no age or distance of time passed between them, nor 
can our mind conceive any separation, by which the Son 
should not always coexist with the Father, or the Holy 
Ghost with the Son. When therefore we conjoin the Holy 
Trinity, think not of it as three parts of something which 
only is not in fact divided, (for this were an impious imagi- 
nation) but understand the inseparable coexistence of three 
who are perfect and incorporeal. For where there is the 
presence of the Holy Ghost, there also is the presence of 



* Tract, in Symb. Apost p. 89. 



538 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VIII* 



Chris t, and where Christ is, there the Father is evidently 
also. Know ye not, that your bodies are the temple of 
the Holy Ghost? And if any one defile the temple of 
God, him shall God destroy. Being sanctified therefore by 
the Holy Ghost, we receive Christ dwelling in us in the 
inner man, and with him the Father, making a common 
abode with those who are worthy. The same conjunction 
likewise is denoted by the tradition of baptism, and the con- 
fession of faith. For if the Spirit be different in nature, 
how came he to be numbered together with them ? And if 
in a course of time he was only produced into being, and 
added to the Father and the Son, how came he to be ranked 
with the eternal nature ? So that they who divide the 
Spirit from the Father and the Son, and number him among 
the creatures, must at once imply the form of baptism to 
be insignificant, and the confession of faith defective. For 
the Trinity will be no more a Trinity, if the Spirit be taken 
from it. And yet if any part of the creation be taken in, 
the whole creation may come in (by the same reason) and 
be numbered with the Father and the Son. For what (in 
this case) should hinder us from saying, I believe in the 
Father, and the Son, and in the whole creation (for in every 
creature ?) Since if it be pious to believe in a part of the 
creation, much more will it become us to take the whole 
creation into our confession. But if you believe in the 
whole creation, you then believe not only in angels and mi- 
nistering spirits, but in whatever adverse powers there may 
be, seeing they also are a part of the creation, and you are 
joined to these in the confession of faith. Thus does the 
blasphemy against the Holy Ghost lead into wicked and 
unlawful assertions : and as soon as you have spoken what 
you ought not concerning the Spirit, the dereliction of the 
Spirit is manifest from thence. For as he that shuts his 
eyes carries darkness with himself ; so he who departs from 
the Spirit, being destitute of him that should enlighten 
him, is overwhelmed with spiritual blindness. Moreover, 
let tradition have its weight to deter thee from separating 
the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son. This is the 
doctrine which the Lord hath taught, and the Apostles 
preached ; which the Fathers have preserved, and the 
Martyrs have confirmed. Let it suffice to speak as thou 



sect. 7. Opinions of the Christian Fathers, 539 

hast learnt, and let me hear no more such sophisms as these ; 
Either he is unbegotten, or begotten : if unbegotten, he is a 
father, if begotten, he is a son ; but if neither of these, he 
is a creature. For my own part, I acknowledge the Spirit 
indeed with the Father, but not to be the Father. And I 
have received him in conjunction with the Son, yet not 
under the character or name of the Son. But I understand 
his relation to the Father, because he proceedeth from the 
Father ; and that to the Son, because I hear, If any one 
have not the Sjririt of Christ, he is none of his. Now if 
he were not the proper Spirit of Christ, how should he ap- 
propriate us to him ? I hear him also termed the Spirit of 
truth; and the Lord is the truth. But when I hear him 
called the Spirit of adoption, this calls to mind that unity 
he has by nature with the Father and the Son. For how 
should that which is alien, adopt ? How should that appro- 
priate, which itself is different in kind ? Thus therefore am 
I cautious neither to coin new words, nor diminish the ma- 
jesty of the Spirit. But as for those who dare to call him a 
creature, I bewail and lament them, that by slight sophisms 
and specious fallacies, they throw themselves headlong into 
hell. For because our mind (say they) takes in these three 
things, and there is nothing in nature which falls not within 
this division, that it is either unbegotten, begotten, or cre- 
ated ; since the Spirit is neither the first, nor the second of 
them, to r^ov ctfee, it must be the third. This (or infe- 
rence) of yours, will render you obnoxious to an eternal 
or curse. Hast thou searched out all things ? Hast thou 
a compass of thought to bring every thing under this divi- 
sion ? Hast thou left nothing unexamined ? Hast thou 
conceived and shut up all things in thy understanding ? 
Dost thou know what is under the earth, or in the deep *?." 

201. Quintus Prudentius was born in Spain in the year 
348. In the fifty -seventh year of his age he became seriously 
religious, and wrote a variety of pieces upon divine subjects. 
My business is only to produce such passages from his works 
as show his opinions on the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, 
and such other as are connected with it. In one of his poems 
then he says :— Be present, O Supreme Father, whom no 



* Horn. cont. Sabel. et Arium et Anomaeos, 



540 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. PART VIII. 



man hath seen at any time : O thou Word of the Father, 
Christ ; and O thou propitious Spirit ; O thou one Power, 
one Light of this Trinity, eternal God off God; O God 
sent forth from both *. 

" Do thou, O Christ, dispel sleep, burst asunder the 
chains of darkness, do away the old offence, and pour into 
me a new light f." 

202. Chrysos torn was one of the most able men among 
the ancients. He was born A. D. 354, and died in 40J. — 
No doubt can be entertained of his sentiments on the sub- 
jects under consideration. He has spoken at large on many 
occasions. Take the following declaration : — They who 
embrace the mad notions of Sabellius, or Arius, says he, do 
both of them fall from the soundness of the faith, for want 
of observing a due mean. Both those Heretics, indeed, are 
called Christians ; but if you inquire into their doctrines, 
you will find the one not much better than the Jews, and 
little differing from them, except in name ; and the others 
very much resembling the heresy of Paul of Samosata ; and 
both of them exceedingly deviating from the truth. Great, 
therefore, is the danger in this respect. The truth lies in a 
strict and narrow way, between two steep precipices ; and 
there is reason to fear, lest, while we fight successfully 
against the one sort of heretics, we ourselves be wounded 
by the other. For if we assert the unity of the Godhead, 
immediately Sabellius draws that expression to his own im- 
pious sense. On the other hand, if we make a distinction, 
and say, that the Father is one, the Son another, and the 
Holy Ghost another, Arius is ready to wrest that distinction 
of persons into a difference of substance. And it equally 
concerns us to avoid the impious confusion of the one, and 
the mad diversity of the other, by confessing the Godhead 
of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to be all one, and by 
adding thereunto a Trinity of persons ; for thus shall we for- 
tify ourselves against both their assaults J. 

203. Augustine, bishop of Hippo, was born A. D. 335, 
and died in 430. He wrote fifteen books on the doctrine of 
the Trinity professedly, besides touching upon the subject 
on many incidental occasions. 

* Hymnus ante Somnum, v. 1. t Hymnus ad Galli Cantum ad fin. 
% Chrysostom on the Priesthood, b. 4, c. 4. 



sect. 7. Opinions of the Christian Fathers. 541 

We believe, hold, and faithfully affirm, says he, that God 
the Father begot the Word his wisdom, by which all was 
made 5 his only Son ; one off one ; coeternal ; most good, 
and most righteous : and that the Holy Spirit is both off the 
Father and the Son, consubstantial, and coeternal with 
them both. And this is both a Trinity in respect of persons, 
and but one God in the inseparable Divinity; and one om- 
nipotent in the inseparable power ; yet so, as that every one 
of the three be held to be God omnipotent ; and yet alto- 
gether are not three omnipotent Gods, but one God omni- 
potent. Such is the inseparable Unity of the three persons, 
and in this manner must they be taught *. 

204. Theodoret was an illustrious writer of the church 
in the latter end of the fourth century. A single passage of 
his works, which I find in the third part of bishop Kidder's 
Demonstration of the Messias, will both shew what his opi- 
nions were upon this great subject on which we are treating, 
and confirm many observations that have already been made 
in some former parts of this work. The quotation is from 
a sermon of his against the Gentiles. He tells them what 
Moses had written concerning their false gods, and that he 
required in his law the worship of the one true God. This 
belief of one God Moses taught in his law, and recommended 
the worship of him only. Upon this he brings in the Gen- 
tiles objecting against the Christians thus : — Perhaps, says 
he, you will say, ye Christians have not kept this law invio- 
lably ; for ye preach not an Unity, but a Trinity : whereas 
the Jews, being brought up in the writings of Moses and the 
Prophets, worship one only, and reprehend your Trinity :— « 
To whom he replies : 

"O friends, I think you fit to be pardoned, being igno- 
rant of the Holy Scripture. Yet I cannot but lament the 
extreme ignorance of the Jews, because they being carried 
from the womb, as the prophet speaks, and instructed in 
divine things from their childhood to old age, are ignorant 
of the true theology. For they continuing a long time in 
Egypt, and learning polytheism there, the all- wise God did 
not think fit plainly to reveal to them the mystery of the 
Trinity, that they might not under that pretext fall into the 



$ Aug. de Civ-it. Dei, lib. 11, cap. 24. 



542 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. PART VIII. 



polytheism of Egypt. And yet he did not altogether conceal 
the doctrine of the Trinity from those who were to come, 
(sowing some of the seeds of the more perfect theology. And 
therefore he gave the law under the representation of one, 
but did enigmatically insinuate the Trinity. For these 
words, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, 
teach plainly both the Unity and the Trinity : for God be- 
ing once, the Lord twice named, declare the Trinity. For 
adding, is one, he delivered a doctrine agreeable to the Jews, 
and expressed the Unity of the Divine nature : for one is 
the essence, power, and will of the Trinity. And therefore 
the company of the invisible powers singing a hymn to God. 
say Holy thrice, and Lord but once : by the first declaring 
the number of properties ; by the other signifying the com- 
mon dominion : but hereby the Trinity was enigmatically 
declared. Elsewhere, however, holy men taught it more 
plainly; for the most divine Moses, writing tfce cosmogony, 
and relating the creation of man, affirms that God, the 
Creator of all things, said, Lei us make man in our image, 
after our likeness : and he adds, In the image of God 
created he him, that he might show the difference of persons. 
And when God commanded Noah concerning the eating of 
flesh, and forbad him the eating of blood, he affirms, that 
the God of the universe said, Whoso sheddeth man's blood, 
by man shall his blood be shed ; for in the image of God 
made he man. He doth not say, In my image, but in the 
i?nage of God, showing the distinction of persons. And 
when those men met together, who were incensed against 
their Maker, to build the tower, that great tower which had 
its name from confusion, Moses affirms that God said, Go to, 
let us go down, and there confound their language. Let 
us go down and confound, shows a parity of honour. But 
the words Go to, signify the Son and Spirit, who were 
joined in the creation. For seeing that when he made man 
he said, Let us make man in our image, after our like- 
ness ; agreeably hereunto, now he is dividing one language 
into many, he takes to him his fellow- workers, the Son and 
most Holy Spirit. In after- time, being about to destroy 
Sodom and its neighbouring cities, partners of her profane- 
ness and wickedness, with thunder and fire from heaven, he 
mentions to us two Lords. Thus Moses writes, Then the 



sect, 7. Opinioiis of the Christian Fathci % &. 543> 

Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and 
fire from the Lord out of heaven. But lest any should 
think, that this prophet alone speaks of the Trinity, hear, O 
my friends, what divine David says : By the Word of the 
Lord ivere the heavens made, and all the host of them hy 
the Spirit of his mouth. And again, The Lord said unto 
my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine 
enemies thy footstool. And soon after, the Lord, the Fa- 
ther of the Lord, saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever; 
the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest 
righteousness and hateth ivickedness ; therefore God, thy 
God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy 
fellows. The same doctrine is delivered to us by Isaiah, 
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, Zechariah, and Micah, and 
all the company of prophets." 

Dr. Fiddes, whom we have so frequently mentioned in 
the course of this inquiry, sums up the opinions of the 
ancient Christian fathers in these words : — 

1 . " The ancients, in general," says he, " unanimously 
maintained against the Heathens and Heretics/ that there 
is but one God in the strict sense. And the same ancients 
affirmed the Son to be God in the strict sense; and the 
Holy Ghost, to be God likewise ; some, in express * terms; 
others, 'in words equivalent ; from whence it evidently fol- 
lows, that they looked upon the three Persons as one God. 

2. " The ancients, in general, unanimously asserted a 
co-essential and co-eternal Trinity, either directly and ex- 
pressly, or implicitly and consequently ; which, in effect, is 
to teach, that the Trinity is the one God. 

3. " The titles and attributes ascribed to the Son ex- 
pressly and frequently (and sometimes, though not so often, 
to the Holy Ghost ; but always understood and implied) 
are demonstrative proofs that all the three Persons are sup- 
posed to be comprehended in the idea of the one God. 

* Tret« contr. Prax- c- 13. Origen. in Basil, de Sp- S- p. 219- Cyp. 
Ep- ad Jub. p. 203- Dionys. Alex. Labbe. torn. 1, p- 873. Sabellius's 
taunting question to the Catholics ; Eva Qw ix/^v n rgstj ©£*?. Epiphan. 
Haer. 62. shews, that the title of God, applied to the Holy Ghost, was 
the common language of the church, at that time. And the argument 
may be carried up much higher from this consideration, that the Praxeans 
and Noetians made the three persons of the Godhead, one person. 



544 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VIII. 



" To mention only such as are applyed to the Son by the 
ante-nicene writers : He is styled God by all in general ; 
God and Lord by many of them ; Lord God absolutely by 
several; particularly by Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, in the 
application of texts of the Old Testament : true, or truly 
God ; by most of them ; great God by some, and perfect 
God : God by nature ; Son by nature ; true and proper 
Son, by many : God of the Jews, of Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob, very frequently : sometimes, the only God, and the 
living God, and counsellor to the Father : Creator of men, 
of angels, and of all things, constantly by all the ancients. 
As to his attributes, he is represented uncreated, eternal, 
consubstantial, either expressly, or in effect, by the concur- 
rent testimony of the ante-nicene writers. Omnipresent, 
omniscient, omnipotent, immutable, incomprehensible, im- 
passible, &c. by several. In short, every thing is attributed 
to him that can tend to raise our ideas of his dignity, and 
to denote a person strictly and essentially divine. 

4. " The hymns, worship, and doxologies addressed to 
the three Persons, as old as Christianity itself, and as unani- 
mously and constantly adhered to, are all so many proofs 
of the truth of what we assert, that the blessed three, Fa- 
ther, Son, and Holy Ghost, were the God of the primitive 
Christians 



* Theol. Specul. vol. 1. p* 392. 



SECT. 8. 



Miscellaneous Evidence, 



545 



PART EIGHTH, 
SECTION VIII. 

MISCELLANEOUS EVIDENCE TO THE PERSON OF CHRIST, AND 
DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY, FROM COUNCILS, HERETICS, 
AND OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE FIRST AGES. 



Early appeals to the Scriptures for the truth of our Lord's 
Deity. — Erroneous opinions successfully encountered 
by the Apostles, and their immediate successors. — The 
first Council of Antioch. — Council of Nice : — Venera- 
tion due to its decision. — Council of Constantinople. — • 
Council of two hundred bishops at Ephesus. — Council 
of six hundred and thirty bishops at Calcedon. — The 
treatment of those ivho are denominated heretics proves 
that the Deity of Christ and the Holy Spirit ivere 
received as doctrines of Christianity. — The opinions of 
the Docetce. — The JVovatians, Donatists and Nesto- 
rians retained the Doctrine of the Trinity. 

205. That the most respectable of the successors of the 
Apostles were believers in the divinity of the Son of God is 
sufficiently clear from the history of those times, indepen- 
dent of these numerous testimonies. For, about the middle 
of the third century, we have already seen, Caius made an 
appeal to the holy scriptures, and the writings of Justin 

n n 



546 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VIII. 



Martyr, Miltiades, Tatian, Clemens, Irenseus, Melito, and 
others, which declared Christ to be God and man. He, 
moreover, appealed to certain psalms and hymns of the bre- 
thren, written at the beginning by the faithful, which set 
forth the praises of Christ, the Word of God, and attributed 
divinity to him. 

In the former part of the fourth century, Athanasius 
made the same appeal to the Arians : — We give you demon- 
stration, says he, that our doctrine has been handed down 
to us from fathers to fathers. But you, ye revivers of Ju- 
daism and disciples of Caiaphas, what writers can you bring 
to father your tenets ? Not a man can you name, of any 
repute for sense or judgment. All to a man are against 
you *• 

To the same purpose speaks St. Austin in the beginning 
of the following age. All the catholic interpreters of the 
Old and New Testaments, says he, that I could read, who 
have wrote before me on the Trinity, which is God, intended 
to teach, conformable to scripture, that Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost do, by the inseparable equality of one and the 
same substance, make up the unity divine f. 

We have another remarkable instance on record in the 
time of Theodosius the Great, about, or a little before, the 
time of Austin's declaration, where a challenge is given by 
the Orthodox to the Arians to try their principles by an ap- 
peal to the catholic writers, who lived before the Council 
of Nice, and abide by the consequence. The Arians, how- 
ever, conscious the cause would go against them upon this 
ground, declined the trial J. 

206. During the first two or three centuries, when any 
peculiarly erroneous and obnoxious sentiments arose among 
the professors of the gospel, they were usually borne down 
and quashed by the authority of the Apostles, and their im- 
mediate successors. Against Oerinthus and Ebion, John 
wrote his gospel and first epistle. When, alter them, other 
persons arose and attacked the fundamental principles of the 
gospel of God, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Ori- 

* Athanas. de Decret, Syn. Nic, p. 233. t Aug. de Trinifc. 

1. 1, g. 3. t Socrat. Eccl. Hist. lib. 5, c. 10, and Sozomen, lib. 7 } 

C. 12 a , - i 



SECT. S. 



Miscellaneous Evidence. 



547 



gen, drew the sword of the Spirit, and for a time confounded 
all their machinations. But when erroneous doctrines be- 
gan to diffuse themselves far and wide among the brethren, 
and their patrons became bold and presumptuous in propa- 
gating them, it was not thought sufficient for the friends of 
sound and apostolical doctrine to oppose them in their indi- 
vidual capacity merely, but numbers of the clergy and other 
zealous and orthodox believers were called together from 
all the neighbouring districts to consider of the dangerous 
tendency of such doctrines, and to bear a public testimony 
against them. One of these Councils was held at Carthage by 
Cyprian, who in the year 255 assembled together 87 bishops, 
besides a great number of inferior clergy, to consider of the 
propriety or impropriety of rebaptizing heretics. These 
87 bishops, it seems from several, circumstances, were all or- 
thodox in their opinions concerning the divinity of Christ, 
and the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. 

207. To these we may add the first Council of Antioch, 
which was held against Paul of Samosata, who denied the 
divinity of our blessed Saviour, and asserted that he was no- 
thing more than a mere man. At this Council were 70 bi- 
shops, and of inferior clergy a considerable number. In their 
synodical letter to this vain man, they deliver their religious 
opinions pretty much at large. That what every one be- 
lieves may be more manifest, say they, we have resolved to 
publish and explain in writing the faith which from the be- 
ginning we have received, and which in the catholic church 
has been preserved and handed down to our days from the 
Apostles, who were themselves eye-witnesses and ministers 
of the word : — That there is one God, unbegotten, without 
beginning, invisible, and unchangeable, of whose glory and 
majesty it is not in the power of man to form any adequate 
idea. Yet though we have but a very imperfect notion of 
God, we ought to be content with what his Son reveals of 
him ; who says, No one knoweth the Father save the Son, 
and he to whomsoever the Sort will reveal him. And as 
we learn from both the Old and the New Testament, so we 
believe and profess this Son to be the begotten Son, the 
only-begotten Son, the image of the invisible God, the 
first-born of every creature, the Wisdom, the Word, and 
the Power of God, existing before all ages, not by foreknow- 

n n 2 



D0CT1XE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VI 11^ 



ledge, but being in nature and person God, the Son of God. 
But whosoever says that the Son of God was not God before 
the creation of the world, or who says, that to believe and 
profess him to be God, is professing that there are two Gods; 
we look upon such a one as having forsaken the ancient 
faith ; and all the catholic churches are of our opinion. — 
For of this Son of God it is written, Thy throne, O God, 
is forever and ever ; a sceptre of righteousness is the 
sceptre of thy kingdom* Thou hast loved righteousness 
and hated iniquity ; therefore God, even thy God, hath 
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. — 
And all the divinely inspired writings declare the Son of 
God to be God. We believe this Son, who was always with 
the Father, to have fulfilled his father's will by creating all 
things. For he spake and they were made, he commanded 
and they w r ere created. For he who commands any thing 
gives his commands to another person ; which other person 
we are persuaded is no other than God, the only-begotten 
Son of God,- to whom he said : — Let us make man accord- 
ing to our image and likeness *. 

208. The Council of Nice assembled in the year of ouf 
Lord 325, to settle the differences which had arisen in the 
church concerning the person of Christ. At this celebrated 
synod were no less than 318 bishops from all parts of the 
Christian world, and of inferior clergy a vast concourse. — - 
After much debating upon the subject, a creed was drawn 
up and signed by all the bishops present, except two. In 
this creed, it is well known r the pre-existence and divinity 
of Christ were established. " I believe," say they, " in one 
Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten 
of his Father before all worlds, God off God, Light off Light, 
very God off very God, begotten, not made, being of one 
substance with the Father, by whom all things were made : 
who for us men, and for our salvation came down from hea- 
ven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the virgin 
Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us 
under Pontius Pilate. — I believe in the Holy Ghost, the 
Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father 
and the Son ; who with the Father and the Son together is 



* Labbcus's Coun. vol. 1, p. 843. 



SECT, 8. 



Miscellaneous Evidence. 



543 



worshipped and glorified, who spake by the Prophets." — ? 
This is the part of the creed which respects the subjects 
wc are now upon. And it is remarkable, that even the two 
bishops who refused to sign it, as firmly believed the pre- 
existence of Christ, and most of the other circumstances 
which that creed contained, as those who did sign it, and 
speak of Christ in terms which signify every thing but 
absolute divinity. " We believe," say they, " in one God, 
the Father Almighty, and in our Lord Jesus Christ his Son, 
begotten of him before all ages, God the Word, by whom 
all things were made in heaven and in earth, who descend- 
ed and was incarnate, suffered, arose, and ascended into 
heaven 

After Arius and his friends had delivered in their creed to 
the Emperor Constantine, they further declare, " This faith 
we have received from the holy gospels, in which the Lord 
saith to his disciples, Go and teach all nations, baptizing 
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy GhosL If we do not believe these things, and 
truly acknowledge the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost, as 
the whole catholic church, and the scriptures teach, to 
which we yield an assent in all things, God is our judge 
both now and at the day of judgment f." — Acesius the 
Novatian bishop of Constantinople, being asked by the 
Emperor Constantine the Great, what he thought of the 
Nicene Council, answered, " There is nothing new in it. 
It is what I have received even from the beginning and 
from the Apostolical times %." — There is so much greater 
veneration due to the determination of that Council (than to 
any single Father or modern Writer) since the Nicene fa- 
thers were by far more competent judges of the doctrine 
debated by them than we of these latter ages, not only as 
they were very near to the times of the old apostolical men, 
but also as they had the unspeakable advantage of consults 
ing the intermediate writers on that subject 5 and conse** 
•quently, of balancing aright the arguments both of orthodox 
and heretical authors — which were extant in their age, but 
are long since entirely perished, or such imperfect fragments 
left us of them, that no certain judgment can be formed of 



-* Ecc. Hist, of Socrates, b. 1, ch. 8. t Ibid, ch, 26, 

% Apud. Socrat h l, cap. 10. 



550 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 



PART VIII. 



the original works. So that if we could suppose there were 
any thing dubious in the Christian faith, with relation to the 
person of our Lord, how is it possible it could be fixed and 
determined more authentically, than by the bishops of the 
Christian Church, assembled upon that very occasion from 
all parts of the world, at no great distance from the Apostles 
themselves ? This early and (almost) unanimous assembly 
must, therefore, be considered by all impartial men as the 
best interpreters of the apostolical writings ; and as such, 
and upon so solemn an occasion, having established the 
consubstantial doctrine, they have established it for the 
Christian church forever. — All those circumstances concur- 
red in the Fathers of the Nicene Council that can give 
weight and authority to the testimonies of mere uninspired 
inen; consequently we have a moral certainty of the truth of 
that faith that was established by the testimonies of those 
Fathers as interpreters of divine revelation. As if so solemn 
a decision made by the best judges, so near to the apostolical 
age, had been designed by the good providence of God, to 
be left as a standing monument to the church, ori purpose 
to prevent all disputes of this nature in future ages . 

Both Eusebius and Constantine himself bear witness to 
the character and equitable proceedings of this celebrated 
Council. <e It was composed," says Eusebius, " of the 
principal learned men of several nations, some famous for 
wisdom of speech, some for gravity of life, and some for both. 
Some venerable for their age and experience, others for their 
ingenuity and wit/' 

Constantine in his letter to the church of Alexandria 
signifies, that he with the Council endeavoured that the 
truth in controversy might be thoroughly tried out ; and 
that all things were narrowly sifted, by the testimony of the 
holy scriptures searched into for that purpose f. 

209. After the Council of Nice in 325, there was ano- 
ther held at Constantinople in 381, consisting of 150 
bishops. This was against Macedonius, who denied the 
divinity of the Holy Ghost, as Alius had denied that of the 
Son. This Council confirmed what had been approved at 
Nice, and added this clause concerning the Spirit : — u And 
In the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who pro- 

* Allix's Reflections on the Conduct of Mr, Whiston, p. 10. 
t See the whole Epistle in Socrat- Ecc„ Hist, book 1, chap- 9« 



sect. 8. Miscellaneous Evidence. 551 



ceedeth from the Father, who together with the Father and 
the Son is worshipped and glorified 3 who spake by the 
prophets." 

210. After this again there was another general Coun- 
cil of 200 bishops at Ephesus against Nestorius in the year 
431, which confirmed the Nicene creed, and made some 
small additions concerning the incarnation of the Son of 
God. 

211. And again in the year 451 there was a fourth ge- 
neral Council at Calcedon against Eutychus, consisting of 
630 bishops, in which the creeds of the former Councils 
were approved and enlarged according to the circumstances 
of the times. 

212. That the divinity of Christ and the Holy Spirit 
were understood to be doctrines of Christianity from the 
beginning, is further confirmed from the treatment the seve- 
ral persons met with, whom we usually call heretics. If 
we consider Simon Magus in that light, the scripture in 
forms us what reception he met with from Peter. And 
afterwards, when he had been rejected by the Apostle, his 
conduct in going about the world deceiving the nations, and 
proclaiming himself to be Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
seems strongly to imply, that the doctrines concerning these 
three divine Persons were then taught among Christians. 

213. Cerinthus, who was the next we have any account 
of, that denied the divinity of the Saviour, was opposed by 
John both in his Gospel and first Epistle. 

21.4. Ebion was a disciple of Cerinthus, and espoused 
the same errors, which were near the principles of our 
modern Socinians. He lived about the year of our Lord 72* 
— His opinions were opposed by John, Ignatius, Justin 
Martyr, Irenseus, Tertullian, Origen, and others. 

215. About the year 195 again, Theodotus of Byzan- 
tium, revived the same heresy, and was opposed by Cams, 
Victor, Hippolitus, and the churches of that age. 

216. Arteinon likewise, about the year 205, was a dis- 
ciple of Theodotus, and a promoter of his erroneous opi 
nions. He too was resisted by the same Caius, and those 
who had opposed Theodotus his master. 

217. Berryllus, bishop of Bostra in Arabia, espoused 
some erroneous sentiments concerning the person of Christ, 



552 



DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY, 



PART VI n. 



A. D. 242. He was called to an account by the churches 
of those days, was convinced of his erjor by the great 
Origen, and restored again to communion. 

218. Paul of Samosata, bishop of Antioch, A. D. 265, 
gave the churches fresh occasion for exerting their zeal in 
behalt of our Lord's divinity. Being called upon to answer 
to the charge of heresy, he pretended to renounce his errors, 
and was reconciled. Soon after, however, he relapsed into 
the same heresy, and in the year 270, was again accused, 
convicted, and deposed. 

219. Arius advanced an error concerning the person of 
Christ, A. D. 317, somewhat different from the former. 
This became the cause of assembling the famous Council 
of Nice, where he was condemned by near 318 bishops, two 
or three only of the number adhering to his opinion. 

This short view of the several heretics, who arose in 
these early ages of the church, shows us in a very strong 
light, that the real and proper divinity of Christ was the 
received doctrine of the general body of believers from 
the very days of the Apostles, independent of every other 
evidence. 

220. As a further proof of this, it may be urged, that 
when the Praxeans, Noetians, and Sabellians, charged the 
Orthodox with worshipping three Gods, they never de- 
fended themselves by insisting that the Father only was 
God, and the Son and Spirit creatures ; but they studiously 
and conscientiously avoided every thing of the kind, and 
insisted, that though both Father, Son, and Spirit, were 
God, yet that there was but one living and true God. They 
were three persons, and but one God. This single circum- 
stance shews plainly, that the doctrine of the Trinity, in the 
common acceptation of that term, was then the generally 
received doctrine of the church. 

221. I think too we may justly argue from the opinions 
of the Docetae, which prevailed in the time of John, 
that Christ was looked upon as much more than human. 
—-Indeed, these heretics, who were opposed both by 
John and Ignatius, had such an exalted opinion of the 
Redeemer, that they supposed he had nothing human 
about him, and that all his sufferings were in appearance 
only. 



Recapitulation of Evidence. 553 

222. Another circumstance, which may be mentioned, 
-seems to me of some weight in this question, and that is, 
when the Novatians, Donatists, and Nestorians, at different 
periods, broke off from the Catholics, they retained the 
doctrine of the Trinity, as then generally understood, and 
only varied from the great body of believers in some inferior 
circumstances : In like manner as when the Protestants 
broke off from the church of Rome in these latter ages, 
they retained all the fundamentals of the gospel professed 
by that church, and only rejected the abuses which had 
crept in during the preceding ages. The persons who lived 
in the first centuries had considerably the advantage of us 
for coming to the knowledge of the original doctrines of 
Christianity, because they had before them the writings of 
abundance of authors which have long since perished in the 
ivreck of time. 



RECAPITULATION OF EVIDENCE. 

We have now gone through every part of our inquiry in 
the manner we had proposed. We have traced the charac- 
ter of our blessed Saviour from the beginning of the world 
to the close of the divine canon. We have seen what were 
the expectations of mankind before he came ; what were 
his own pretensions ; what the declarations of both friends 
and enemies while he was here upon earth ; and what have 
since been the representations of his disciples, when they 
were under the fullest degree of spiritual illumination. — • 
And the sum of all, in one view, is this : — 

PART FIRST. 

Jesus Christ is the only Saviour. — His character is 
Infinitely glorious. — He is equal with the Father. — Where 
the Deity of Jesus is discarded, religion declines. — The 
Unity of God is a first principle of religion, — The gospel 



$54 



Recapitulation of Evidence. 



contains a system of moral philosophy. — Jesus was rejected 
by the bulk of the Jewish nation, especially the more 
learned and polite. — Fletcher reasons irresistibly against So- 
cinians. — The pernicious influence of Socinianisrn.— The 
doctrine of the Trinity is no speculative doctrine.— The be- 
lief of it is compatible with reason— Summary of reasoning 
upon it. — The doctrine of the Atonement an unanswerable 
argument for the divinity of Christ.-— The absurdity of his 
being no more than a mere man. ■ — The Scriptures frequently 
join him with the Father.— The necessity of his Deity.— 
Socinian objections answered.— Various passages of Scrip- 
ture considered. — The Word of God is the best authority in 
the world upon every subject where it is concerned.- — Diffi- 
culties attending doctrines are no arguments against the 
reception of them. 

PART SECOND. 

CHRIST is the seed of the woman. — ENOCH'S Lord, 
coming to judge the wicked.— ABRAHAM'S promised seed 
■ — ISAAC'S promised seed. — He is JACOB'S redeeming 
angel- — his gathering Shiloh — his expected salvation — the 
true Melchizedek.— The Jehovah tempted by the Israelites. 
— .The true brazen serpent — BALAAM'S star and sceptre. 
— JOB's living redeemer.— MOSES's prophet like unto 
himself.— HANNAH's anointed king. 

He is DAVID's anointed king, and son of God- — his 
son of man — holy one — Jehovah — afflicted one— shepherd — 
Lord of hosts, and king of glory— atoning sacrifice — light 
and truth — God, whos^ throne is established in righteous- 
ness — ascending kin^, and Lord — rock — Lord God, who 
ascended on high — afflicted servant — righteous and peaceful 
king — most high God — man of God's right hand, and son 
of man — everlasting seed— Lord of the whole earth, whom 
the angels adore — everlasting and unchangeable God— God, 
who was tempted in the wilderness— Lord, who sitteth at 
God's right hand — Lord, who existed before the morning 
star — just one, who ruleth over men. 

He is SOLOMON'S wisdom, that existed from eternity 
—son of the Creator — -son of the Father— rose of Sharon— 



Recapitulation of Evidence. 



555 



lily of the valleys — and chief among ten thousand. — AMOS's 
God, who overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah — Lord God of 
hosts. — He is HOSEA's Lord their God — David, king of 
Israel — son of God — God — Lord God of hosts — and Je- 
hovah. 

CHRIST is ISAIAH's more than mere man— Emanuel 
—-Lord of hosts himself—wonderful, counsellor, mighty 
God, everlasting father, prince of peace-— rod, branch, and 
root of Jesse — crown of glory, and diadem of beauty — pre- 
cious corner-stone, and sure foundation — God coming with 
vengeance and recompense— Jehovah our God — Lord God, 
who should come — Lord God, who should feed his flock as 
a shepherd- — Lord, king of Israel, Lord of hosts, first and 
last — God of Israel, the Saviour, who hideth himself — God 
alone, unto whom the nations are commanded to look, bow, 
and be saved — Lord, in whom we have righteousness and 
strength, and in whom all the seed of Israel shall be justified 
and shall glory — God that reigneth — servant of God, and 
man of sorrows, who should atone for the sins of mankind — 
Lord of hosts, and husband of his church — witness, leader, 
and commander to the people — mighty and righteous con- 
queror of Edom and Bozrah — Lord, who was found of them 
that sought him not. 

CHRIST is MICAH's ruler in Israel, whose goings forth 

have been from everlasting. JEREMIAH's Being, in 

whom man should trust — righteous branch, whose name is 
Jehovah our righteousness — branch of righteousness, whose 
name is Jehovah our righteousness. — EZEKIEL's servant 
David — shepherd of the Lord's flock — and plant of renown. 
DANIEL's stone, cut out of the mountain without hands — 
son of man, invested with universal dominion — Lord, in 
whose name he prays to the Lord God — Messiah the prince, 
who was to be cut off as an atoning sacrifice. — HAGGAPs 
desire of all nations. — ZACHARIAH's Jehovah, who should 
dwell in the midst of his people — branch, and servant of the 
Lord — branch, who should build the temple of the Lord, 
who should be both a king and a priest, between whom and 
the Lord of hosts should be the council of peace. — humble, 
just, and saving king — Lord, in whose name the people 
should walk up and down — Jehovah who was valued at 
thirty pieces of silver— Jehovah who should be pierced — 



556 



Iiecapitulatio?i of Evidence. 



shepherd and fellow of the Lord of hosts-— Lord God who 
shall come with all his saints. — MALACHFs messenger of 
the covenant, and Lord who should come to his temple — 
sun of righteousness. 

Besides all these declarations of the Old Testament con- 
cerning the Son of God, we have an account in the same 
sacred writings of various appearances and manifestations of 
the same adorable person. — MESSIAH appeared at the 
creation of the world— to our first parents in Eden — at the 
confusion of tongues — to Abram in a vision — to Hagar in 
the wilderness — to Abraham in person in the plains of 
Sodom — to Abimelech king of Gerar — to Abraham again 
concerning lshmael — to Abraham on the sacrifice of Isaac 
■ — to Jacob in his journey to Padan-aram — to Jacob at 
Mahanaim — to Moses in the burning bush — to destroy the 
Egyptians— to the Israelites on Mount Sinai — to the Israe- 
lites in the wilderness- — to Moses and Aaron, Nadab and 
and Abihu — to Balaam in the way — to Joshua as captain of 
the Lord's host — to the Israelites at Bochim — to Gideon at 
Ophrah — to Manoah and his wife— to Isaiah under the cha- 
racter of the Name of the Lord — to Daniel as king of the 
whole earth — to Zechariah as man-angel — to Zachariah as 
Angel-Jehovah — to Isaiah in the temple : — and to Habak- 
kuk as the avenger of his people. — This is the amount of 
the evidence to the person and character of Christ from 
the Old Testament. 

PART THIRD. 

The evidence from the New Testament is as follows :— 
GABRIEL, the arch-angel, declared, even before our 
Saviour was conceived in the womb, that he was the Lord 
God of Israel, born of a Virgin, begotten of the Holy Ghost, 
called the Son of the Highest, the Son of God, and an 
everlasting King. — ELIZABETH, the mother of John the 
Baptist, being filled with the Holy Ghost, declared Jesus 
Christ to be her Lord, before he was born into the world. — 
ZACHARIAH, filled with the Holy Ghost also, declared 
that his son John should be the prophet of the Highest, and 
go before the face of the Lord to prepare the way ; and that 
Christ should be the day-spring from on high.- — The 



Recapitulation of Evidence, 



557 



ANGEL, after his birth, declared Jesus to be Christ the 
Lord. — Good old SIMEON, under divine influence, with 
the child Jesus in his arms, proclaimed him to be the Salva- 
tion and Light of the world. — MATTHEW represents him 
as begotten of the Holy Ghost, and born of the virgin Mary, 
as the Saviour of the world, and God in human nature. 

JOHN the Baptist, when grown to years of maturity, 
bore a more ample testimony to his great Lord and Master 
than most or all of those who had gone before him. He 
positively declares, that Jesus existed before he himself did : 
— That Jesus Christ was both mightier and more worthy 
than himself : — That he had the power of bestowing the 
Holy Ghost upon whomsoever he pleased :— -That the souls 
of men were ail in his hand to reward or punish : — That he 
is the only-begotten Son of God : — That though he was 
upon earth in his human nature, yet he still continued, in a 
way not to be explained by us, in the bosom of his heavenly 
Father : — That he was the Lord spoken of by Isaiah : — 
That he was the great propitiation, ransom, and atonement 
for the sins of the world, represented by the paschal Lamb y 
and the morning and evening sacrifice under the Mosaical 
dispensation : — That the Spirit of God descended from 
heaven and abode upon him : — That he had the power of 
bestowing the Holy Spirit upon his followers :— - That he 
was the Son of God : — That he was the bridegroom of the 
church, and descended from heaven, where he had seen and 
heard the will of God, which he declared to the world : — 
That the Holy Spirit was given unto him without any mea- 
sure or restriction : — That the Father hath a peculiar love to 
his Son, and hath given all things into his hands : — That 
whosoever believeth on the Son of God shall be everlastingly 
saved : — That whosoever continueth in disobedience and 
unbelief to the end of his days shall be eternally condemn- 
ed, and the wrath of God abideth upon him, even now in 
the present state. — This is the information John the Baptist 
gives us concerning the person, character, and offices of the 
Son of God and Saviour of men. 

NATHANIEL calls Christ the Son of God, and the 
King of Israel. — MARTHA tells us he was Christ, and the 
Son of God, who should come into the world.— 1PETER, 
and all the Apostles, of whom he was the mouth, declared 



558 



Recapitulation of Evidence. 



most assuredly, that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the 
living God, and of infinite knowledge and understanding* 
— The MAGI of the East offered to the infant Saviour 
gifts expressive of their belief of his Divinity. — All the 
APOSTLES confessed their belief in the omniscience of 
Jesus. — A whole ship's crew worshipped Jesus, and acknow- 
ledged that he was the Son of God.— PILATE would take 
no denial, but declared to all the world, that Jesus of Nazar- 
eth was the King of the Jews.— The ROMAN CENTU- 
RION, struck with astonishment at the wonder, which 
accompanied the crucifixion, cried out, Truly this was the 
Son of God. — The very DEVILS confessed Jesus to be the 
Son of God, and well knew that he was the Christ. — GOD 
himself hath repeatedly declared, that Jesus is his beloved 
Son, in whom he was well-pleased, and hath commanded 
all mankind to hear and obey his high behests. — The un- 
believing THOMAS, without the smallest degree of dis- 
approbation from his great Master, addressed him as his 
Lord and his God . 

CHRIST avowed himself the promised Messiah. — He 
asserted his own pre-existence in the clearest and most 
satisfactory manner upon many occasions. — He declares 
that there is something inexplicably mysterious in his own 
nature.— He asserts his own infinitude of knowledge, and 
equality with his Father. — He declares his own proper filia- 
tion. — He assures us he is the Lord of the sabbath day. — He 
asserts his own omnipresence and omniscience. — He pro- 
claims himself the only-begotten Son of God. — Christ speaks 
of himself upon many occasions in the most easy and fami- 
liar manner as the Son of God, intimating thereby, that 
God is his true and proper parent.— Declares he had actual 
and almighty existence at the very time his body was laying 
lifeless in the grave. — Assumes the power of giving natural 
and eternal life to all who believe in his name. — Proclaims 
himself the Lord and Master, in an incommunicable sense, 
of all his followers. — Declares that his intention in coming 
into the world was to make atonement for sin.— Promises to 
dwell in his people in common with the Father.— Avows 
himself to be the way, the truth, and the life, and the only, 
mediator — declares that he who had seen bim had seen the 
Father — that he was in the Father and the Father in him— * 



Recapitulation of Evidence, 



559 



that whatsoever any of his disciples should ask the Father in 
his name he would give it them. — that he and his Father 
would dwell in the hearts of Christians — that he would send 
the Holy Spirit from the Father — that the Spirit should 
testify of him in the hearts of his people and glorify him— 
that all things which belong to the Father belong also to 
him. Declares himself to be the giver of -eternal life — that 
he and his Father are one — that he was the Son of God- 
that the Father d welt in him and he in the Father — and that 
he was equal with God. Assumes to himself the power of 
working on the sabbath in common with his Father — -makes 
himself equal with God — asserts his own power to be like 
to that of his Father — declares himself the judge of the 
world — and claims the same honour to himself that is given 
to his Father. The manner in which CHRIST performed 
several of his miraculous works was in the highest style of 
Deity, and inconsistent with every idea of simple humanity. 
He laid down his life in attestation of his being the true, 
and proper Son of God. Declares himself possessed of all 
power both in heaven and in earth. Requires all the world 
to be baptized in his name. Asserts his own omnipresence. 
Declares himself the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and 
the ending, the Almighty, who exists from everlasting to 
everlasting, and searcheth the hearts and trieth the reins of 
all the children of men. 

After this we have the opinions of the apostles and dis- 
ciples of our Lord when he had withdrawn from our world. 
STEPHEN declares our Saviour to be the Just One — 
commits his departing spirit into his hands— and dies crying 
to him for mercy on his murderers. PETER, and all the 
Apostles, being assembled together in one place, invoked 
the Lord Jesus to direct the lot for the choice of another 
witness in the room of Judas. He assures us, it was not 
possible that Christ should be kept in the grave by the 
power of death. He speaks of Christ in such a connexion 
with the Father and Holy Ghost as seems to imply some- 
thing more than human. He calls him the Holy One, the 
Just, the Prince of life, and the Lord of all. He says, that 
Christ existed in the days of Noah — that all the angelie 
world are now made subject to him — calls him our God and 
Saviour — declares that heaven is his- everlas ting kingdom-- 



560 



Recapitulation of Evidence. 



that he bought us from wrath — that to deny him who thus 
bought us is a damnable heresy — he commands us to grow 
in the knowledge of him — and ascribes glory to him forever. 
The EUNUCH of Ethiopia declared Jesus to be the Son 
of God. JAMES styles him Lord of Glory. It is thought 
by some that J UDE calls Jesus Christ the only wise God, 
and the only Lord God. The manifestation of our Saviour 
to SAUL in his way to Damascus seems to have been a 
repetition of the ancient appearances to Adam, Abraham, 
Moses and others under the Patriarchal and Mosaical dis- 
pensations. 

PAUL, speaking to the Elders of the church of Ephesus ? 
calls our Saviour God. From a considerable variety of pre- 
cepts, declarations, and examples, it appears that our blessed 
Saviour is an object of religious adoration, and, of conse- 
quence, that he is, possessed of a nature properly Divine. 
Paul speaks of the two natures of Christ, the human and 
divine. He contrasts the human and divine nature, and 
expressly calls Christ, God over all blessed forever. He 
speaks of it as an instance of great condescension in God not 
to spare his Own Son to die for mankind — assures us he is 
the Lord of glory — the Lord from heaven — and denounces a 
most awful curse upon every man who loves not the Lord 
Jesus Christ. He declares that God was in Christ recon- 
ciling the world unto himself — that he was made a sin- 
offering for the people that they might be saved- — that he 
lived in a state of glory before he assumed human nature — 
and that he emptied himself of that glory and became a 
poor man, to restore us to a state of felicity. He assures 
us that Christ was made of a woman for the salvation of 
mankind— that his love in this undertaking was inexpressibly 
great — that he was in the form of God and thought it not 
robbery to be equal with God before he came into the world 
— and that he is now in his glorified human body able to 
subdue all things unto himself. He declares that Christ is 
the creator and upholder of the whole universe of things — 
that all the wisdom and knowledge of the Godhead belong 
to him — and that he was God manifested in the flesh. He 
calls Christ the Lord the righteous judge— and the great 
God. The same Apostle tells us that Christ is the Son of 
God— the heir of all things — the constitutor of the ages— 



Recapitulation of Evidence. 



561 



the brightness of the Father's glory — the express image of 
his person — the sustainer of the universe — the universal 
atonement — and the unchanging and unchangeable Creator 
of the world. We are assured by the same authority, that 
Christ was superior to angels, and pre-existed his human 
birth — that he was the builder and founder of the Jewish 
church — and that he is omniscient — existed at the giving 
of the Law on mount Sinai — and is unchangeable in his 
nature. 

JOHN declares that the Word was in the beginning 
with God, and was God — that he was the Creator of the 
universe, and the illuminator of the moral world — that he 
knew the secrets of all hearts — that he was pre-existent and 
omnipotent — and that he was the Son of God the Father, 
and the Saviour of all who believe in his name. He main- 
tains both his humanity and divinity — assures us he is the 
propitiation for the sins of the whole world — that he laid 
down his life for us — that he took upon him human nature, 
and in that nature became the Saviour of the world — that 
he is one with the Father and the Holy Ghost — and is the 
true God and eternal life. This Apostle closes the scriptu- 
ral canon with a variety of expressions descriptive of the 
personal dignity and glory of Jesus. He calls him the 
Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the Almighty, the 
Prince of the kings of the earth — he tells us that he hath 
the keys of hell and of death, and hath life eternal to be- 
stow — he assures us that Christ searcheth the reins and 
heart, and inhabiteth the praises of the whole angelic world 
— he calls him the Word of God, faithful and true, King of 
kings and Lord of lords, the temple and light of heaven — he 
says the throne of the Lamb is in heaven, and is the same 
as the throne of his Father — that he is the Alpha* and 
Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, 
the root and the offspring of David, the bright and the 
morning Star — the Lord God, and the great God — and that 
the Angels are employed as his servants and ministers, 
After this, we proceed, in the 

FOURTH PART 

to examine the scripture-evidence for the doctrine of the 
Holy Ghost, and we found. — That the Divine Spirit 

o o 



562 



Recapitulation of Evidence, 



assisted at the creation of the world. The Holy Spirit is 
omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, and eternal. To lie 
unto him is the same as lying unto God. Blasphemy 
against him is unpardonable. He is joined with the Father, 
and the Son, in baptism, benediction, operation, and testi- 
mony. He was the agent in forming the body of Christ. 
He is the power of the Highest. He was the conductor of 
Christ in all the actions of his life, while here upon earth. 
He striveth with the hearts of men. Men's bodies, by 
"being the temple of the Spirit, are the temples of God. 

The HOLY GHOST dwells in the minds of all good 
men. He qualified the Apostles of Christ for the work to 
which they were called. He is the author, and worker of 
miracles. He raised Christ from the dead, and shall also 
raise the bodies of believers from the grave at the last day. 
He is the author of all prophetic knowledge. He is the 
inspirer of ingenious arts and inventions. He is the reviver 
of the powers of nature, and the inspirer of courage and 
fortitude. He it was who led the Israelites, and gave them 
rest, after their forty years travel in the wilderness. He is the 
author of all moral and religious excellence, grace, purity, 
and holiness. He is the author of all religious gifts among 
men. This Spirit is but one. He hath a real personal exis- 
tence. He reveals Christ to the minds of men. He is the 
Spirit of God. He is also the Spirit of Christ. He proceed- 
eth from the Father and the Son. He is distinguished by 
the titles Lord and God. The Holy Spirit is an object of 
religious adoration. 

Having thus ascertained the scriptural doctrine concern- 
ing the Son, and Holy Spirit, we proceeded in the 

FIFTH PART, 

to examine the Word of God concerning the Sacred Trinity, 
and it appears that the scriptural view of that mysterious 
Triplicity stands thus :— 1. The word ELOHIM, which 
the Hebrew scriptures most commonly use for the name of 
the Supreme Being, is considered by many respectable 
scholars, both ancient and modern, both Jewish and Chris- 
tian, as conveying the idea of plurality. Other plural nouns 
are used for the name of God in a manner similar to that in 



Recapitulation of Evidence. 



563 



which Elohim is used. God, moreover,, sometimes speaks 
of himself in the plural number, in such a connection as 
enforces the plural meaning of the world Elohim. In some 
passages of holy scripture two or three words are used by 
which to express the several persons in the Godhead. There 
are other places, where a triple repetition of the same w r ord 
seems to intimate the threefold distinction in the Deity. 
The three persons of the Godhead are very frequently men- 
tioned together in the same text or context. Each of the 
three persons in the Divine Nature is an object of prayer, 
and the hope of Christians. 

After having surveyed the Sacred Writings, we examin- 
ed, in the 

SIXTH PART, 

the opinions that were entertained by the ANCIENT JEWS 
upon these deep things of God, and found the substance of 
What they expected in their Messiah to stand thus : — TOBIT 
seems to intimate a plurality in the Godhead. The book of 
JUDITH ascribes the creation of the world to the Spirit of 
God, or rather, to the Son and Spirit of God. Under the 
image of Truth may, possibly, be comprehended the eternity 
and omnipotence of Messiah. ESDRAS speaks of him 
as the Son of God, and the Name of the Lord. The same 
ESDRAS calls him by the name of Jesus Christ, Son of 
God, and says that he should die. He likewise speaks of 
the Holy Ghost as the inspirer of knowledge. The wise 
Son of SIRACH seems to think it was the Logos who con- 
versed with Moses on mount Sinai. The ANGEL that 
appeared to Joshua is called by him, the Lord, and the 
Mighty One. ELIAS seems to have wrought his miracles 
by the power of the Word of the Lord most high. He says 
he called upon the Lord, the Father of his Lord. MES- 
SIAH appeared in battle in behalf of his chosen people. 
The author of the Wisdom of Solomon calls the third per- 
son in the Divine Nature, Wisdom, and the Holy Spirit of 
discipline declares that he filleth the world. He describeth 
the excellence of Messiah under the character of Wisdom, 
and attributes unto it such perfections as are inseparable 
from Divinity. He prayeth for Wisdony declaring that she 

o o 2 



5Gi Recapitulation of 'Evidence : 



sitteth by the throne of God. He assureth us that the 
Spirit of God is incorruptible, and pervadeth all nature. He 
says it is the Word of the Lord which healeth all thing*. 
He calls the Word of God, Almighty ; says he is seated by 
the throne of God ; and it was he who destroyed the Egyp- 
tians. BARUCH declareth, God shewed himself upon 
earth, and conversed with men. 

The learned PHILO enlarges much upon the nature of 
the Divine Being. He says, the Divine LOGOS is the 
power which made the world. The Divine LOGOS is the 
image of God : the Holy Spirit is the image of the Logos, 
and the universal light from whence all splendor springs. 
Man is made the image of the Divine Logos. God made 
the world by his Logos. The Divine Logos is omniscient 
and omnipotent. With God are two Supreme Powers, the 
first made, the second governs the universe. The Divine 
Logos is the governor of the universe. God made the 
world by the Logos. The two Powers of God are unlimited 
and incomprehensible. The Supreme God is superior to his 
two Powers, is to be seen without them, and appears in 
them. God governs the universe by the righteous Logos, 
who is his first-born Son. The Son of God is an intellec- 
tual Being. The Father of existence produced the Logos 
as his eldest Son, whom- he has named his First-begotten. 
The first-born Logos of God is the most ancient angel, the 
archangel with many names, the beginning, the name of 
God, the man according to his image, the seeing Israel, the 
most ancient Word, and the eternal image of God. The 
Father of the universe is in the middle of hi& two powers, 
and represents to the mind the appearances, sometimes of 
one, sometimes of three. The two cherubim on the mercy- 
seat were symbols of the two Powers of God* The most 
ancient Word is the Prince of angels, and the Mediator be- 
tween God and man. The Logos instructs and influences 
the minds of men, spoke to Adam in the garden of Eden, 
and to Moses from the burning bush. The Divine Logos, 
the first-begotten Son of God, is high-priest of the world, 
which is the temple of the Almighty. The supplications of 
the Jewish high-priest were made efficacious through the 
infinitely perfect Son of God. The Logos is the cliaracter 
and image of God, and the viceroy of the great King; the 



Recapitulation of Evidence. 



true manna; the maker, and governor, and enlightenef of 
the world ; the first-born Son of the Father. EUSEBJUS 
has given us the sentiments of the ancient Jews pretty much 
at large. They taught, that, the Second Cause is the Logos 
©f God, and God off God. They applied the history of 
Sodom and Gomorrah, the hundred and tenth, and the 
thirty-third psalms, to the Logos of the Father, making him 
the fabricator of the universe. Besides the God and Father 
of the universe, they introduce a second person and divine 
power, called the Logos, the Wisdom and Power of God, 
who fabricated the world, conducted all the dispensations of 
providence, and to whom various passages of the Old Testa- 
ment are applicable. The Logos is the charioter of God, 
and the Creator and Governor of the world. A Triad 
shines, a Monad reigns in each ; and the world was made 
by the Wisdom and Logos of God. The Logos of God is the 
second Principal, the first-begotten, the co-adjutor of the 
Father's council, the image of God, the wisdom of God, the 
power of God, the general of the host of the Lord, the angel 
of the great council, the true light, and the sun of righ- 
teousness. After the second Principal there is also a third, 
the Holy Ghost, whom they deify and rank in the first and 
royal dignity of a Principal of the universe. The Word of 
the everlasting God is eternal and the support of the uni- 
verse. All the Hebrew Divines acknowledged the Holy 
Ghost to be God, and the inspirer of the prophets. 

EZEKIEL, the Jew, who lived about two hundred years 
before Christ, makes the Angel who spake to Moses out of 
the bush, and the Angel that destroyed the Egyptians,. to be 
the Divine Logos. ARISTOBULUS, who lived near one 
hundred and fifty years before the Christian era, makes the 
Second Cause the source of light, and the W T isdom spoken 
of by Solomon that existed before the heavens and the 
earth. The GRECIAN philosophers got all their notions 
of the original of things from the law of Moses. OR- 
PHEUS says, that all the ancient Logos shines in the im- 
mortal Maker of the world, and that he sits on the circle of 
the heavens and orders all that is. The Testaments of the 
twelve Patriarchs were written towards the close of the 
second century. The Testament of Levi says, Messiah was 

o o 3 



566 



Recapitulation of Evidence, 



to be God and Man. The Testament of Zebulon says, 
God shall be seen in the figure of man. The Testament of 
Nephthali says, God shall appear dwelling among men on 
earth. The Testament of Ashur says, The most High shall 
visit the earth in the mask of man, eating and drinking with 
them. The Testament of Benjamin says, the King ot hea- 
ven appeared upon earth in the form of man in a state of 
humiliation. Rabbi JONATHAN says, the Spirit of God, 
mentioned in the first chapter of Genesis, was the Spirit 6f 
mercies from before the Lord. BERESCHIT RABBA 
calls it the Spirit of Messiah the King. Rabbi SIMEON 
called himself, his son, and one of his scholars, placed in a 
peculiar manner, the type 01 all that is. He compares God 
and his two Powers to three lights. He compares them 
again to three heads contained in one head. He speaks of 
the word Elohim as containing a great mystery, and refer- 
ring to a trinity in unity. 

The Talmudists are said to acknowledge most of the 
particulars revealed in the gospel concerning the Saviour of 
mankind. The same Talmudists apply the description of 
Wisdom in the eighth of Proverbs to Messiah, and declare 
it was to him God said, Let us make man. There are three 
co-eternal primordial Heads. Moses, the son of Nehe- 
mannus, ascribes most of the Divine Appearances in the 
Old Testament to Messiah. The Jewish book Reschit 
Chocmah says, There are three Gods, when explained in a 
certain way. The Jewish book, called Midrasch Tillim, 
makes mention of three persons by whom the world was 
made. Rabbi PHINEAS saith, the Holy Spirit rested 
upon Joseph all his life. The Holy Spirit, says he again, 
rested twenty years upon Ezekiel. The ancient Cabbalists 
distinguished God into three lights, and even call them by 
the names of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The Jews ac- 
knowledge Christ taught that he was God. The modern 
Jews confess that Messiah when he comes is to be born of 
a virgin. A Jewish prayer composed against the Christians 
in the year of - our Lord 52, takes for granted they were 
teachers of a Trinity and the divinity of Christ. In another 
composition, the Jews acknowledge, that Christ and his dis- 
ciples taught that he was God, born of a virgin, by the 
Holy Ghost. Josephus has left on record 3 that Christ was 



Recapitulation of Evidence, 567 



an extraordinary person. The religious Jews believe that 
Messiah is to be God and man, and that he shall die for the 
sins of men. 

The learned Heathen came under our survey in the 

SEVENTH PART, 

and were not a little surprized to find, that they too were as 
firmly persuaded of a Triplicity in the Divine Nature as the 
most enlightened of the Jews. ZOROASTER delivered 
various things concerning the complex nature of the Divine 
Being. The ancient Persians had their Trinity. The 
Egyptians had both a name and hieroglyphic for the Trinity. 
MERCUR1US Trismegistus spake of three Principals. 
ORPHEUS clearly asserted the three Principals. PYTHA- 
GORAS spake much concerning the same three Principals. 
EPICHARMUS considered the Logos as the author of rea- 
son in man. PARMENIDES asserted the triad of divine 
hypostases. SOCRATES intimates a full expectation of a 
teacher, whom he calls the Divine Logos. EUPOLIS has 
the same ideas. PLATO's opinions on this subject bear a 
striking resemblance to the doctrine of the Christian Tri- 
nity. ARISTOTLE had some ideas of a divine teacher, 
who might be expected to appear among men. ZENO 
makes the Logos the creator of the world, and calls him 
God the Word, affirming that he is eternal. The Romans, 
Phrygians, and Samothracians were not entirely strangers to 
the triple distinction, though it is probable they knew little 
or nothing of the nature of it. CICERO speaks of the three 
guardians of the universe. Various instances of a triplicity 
among the Greeks and Romans. 

VIRGIL hath said such things of some extraordinary 
child, as are little applicable to any merely human being. 
SENECA, the tragedian, seems to have intimated some 
thing concerning the three Principals. SENECA, the 
philosopher, was no stranger to the doctrine of a Trinity. 
PONTIUS PILATE informed Tiberius, that Christ was be- 
lieved by many to be a God. SIMON MAGUS had some 
notions, though extremely absurd, of the triplicity in the 
Divine Nature. PLINY bore witness to the religious wor- 



568 



Recapitulation of Evidence. 



ship of Jesus Christ. LUCIAN was well acquainted with 
the belief of the Christians concerning the Trinity, and 
their practice in worshipping Christ. ADRIAN speaks of 
some persons, who urged a patriarch of the Jews to the 
worship of Christ. CELSUS acknowledges the Christians 
of his age believed Christ was God, and agreed with the 
Jews that the Logos is the Son of God. ALEXANDER 
SEVERUS had it in contemplation to build a temple to 
Christ. NUMENIUS calls the Father the first, and the 
Word the second God. PLOTINUS calls the Logos a 
second God — affirms that he is not separated from the first 
God — but that he is the Son of God. He, moreover, speaks 
at large of the three Divine persons, whom he expressly 
calls, three persons that are principals ; and assures us this 
was no new doctrine, but taught by Permenides and Plato. 
AMELIUS speaks of the Word of God as the Maker of all 
things, and applies the description of him by John much in 
the same manner. 

PORPHYRY says the Logos is eternal, and that the 
Christians weakly worshipped Christ. CHALCIDIUS says 
the Logos of God is God, is co-existent with God, and a 
venerable God. JULIAN the Apostate acknowledges that 
John denominated our Saviour God. LIBANIUS says 
the Christians made Christ both God, and the Son of God. 
HIEROCLES confesses, that the Christians proclaimed 
Jesus to be God. PROCLUS calls the doctrine of three 
Divine persons subsisting in the Godhead, The tradition of 
the three Gods, the divinely delivered theology, and that 
Psyche dwells with the paternal mind. The Scandinavians 
inculcate the worship of a triple Deity. The Mexican 
Indians entertained some imperfect kleas of a triple Divi- 
nity. The Hindoos adore three principle deities, who are 
still but one. The Tartars and Siberians adore one God 
under three denominations. The Chinese, in common with 
all the rest of the nations, are found to entertain some ideas 
consentaneous to the doctrine of the Trinity. After all 
this, it would have been unpardonable to have passed over 
the sentiments of the Christian Fathers, who have spoken 
so much more fully upon these deep things of God, than 
either the Jews or the Heathens had done before them. 



Recapitulation of Evidence. 



569 



We, therefore, took into consideration what they had ad- 
vanced in the 

EIGHTH PART; 

when it appeared that, BARNABAS believed the pre- 
existence of Christ— that he was present at the creation of 
the world — that it was he to whom the Father said, Let us 
make man — that he was the Lord of the whole earth, before 
he took upon him human nature — that the sun is the work 
of his hands — that he existed in a state of glory brighter than 
that luminary before he assumed human nature — that he is 
appointed judge of quick and dead — that in his original nature 
he was incapable of suffering — that all things were made by 
him and for him — and that honour, power and glory are for- 
ever to be ascribed unto him. HERMAS believed that the 
Son of God is more ancient than any creature — that he was 
with the Father when the world was made — that he was in 
council with the Father upon that occasion — that he is 
great and without bounds — and that the whole world is sup- 
ported by him. CLEMENT believed, that Jesus had a 
being before he was born of the virgin Mary — that the 
Corinthians had the sufferings of God always before their 
eyes — that Christians have one God, one Christ, and one 
Spirit of grace — that glory and majesty are eternally to be 
ascribed to Jesus Christ — that he sprung in a direct line 
from Abraham according to his human generation — that he 
made atonement b) his blood, and is the proper object of 
prayer — that we ought to think of him as God, and the uni- 
versal judge of mankind — and he is to^be worshipped, not 
only externally, but with all our inward powers — and that 
he existed as a spirit before he took upon him human 
nature. 

IGNATIUS believed, that Christ was God— that he was 
God and man — that he was both made and was not made — 
sprung from God and from Mary — passible and impassible 
— that he was conceived in the womb of Mary by the power 
of the Holy Ghost— that he appeared as God in the form of 
man — and was both Son of God, and son of man — before all 
ages the only-begotten Son and Word, and made man of 
the virgin Mary — that he was incorporeal in a body — exempt 



570 



Recapitulation of Evidence, 



from sufferings in a suffering body — and immortal in a mor- 
tal body — that he was with the Father before all ages, ap- 
peared in the end to us — and in his eternal Word — that both 
the apostles and believers are subject to Christ, and to the 
Father, and the Holy Ghost — that Christ is above all time, 
eternal and invisible, impalpable and impassible, in his 
higher nature, though made visible and subject to, suffering, 
in order to procure the salvation of mankind — that he was a 
proper object of praise— raised himself from the grave — > 
and, though present in the body with us men, was united to 
his Father in the spirit. This venerable martyr further be- 
lieved our blessed Saviour to be a proper object of prayer, 
and prayed to, him accordingly in the most direct terms, and 
upon the most solemn occasions. The believers also, who 
wrote an account of his martyrdom, conclude their narration 
with a doxology to the holy and undivided Trinity. 

POLYCARP believed that Jesus Christ is exalted at 
the right hand of his Father — that all things in heaven and 
earth are made subject unto him — that every living creature 
shall worship him— that he shall come to be the judge of 
quick and dead— that he is our everlasting High-Priest, 
and the Son of God — that God willed his Son to be incar- 
nate for our salvation— and that Luke made known the di- 
vinity of Christ. This same good man served Jesus Christ 
all the latter part of his life, calling him, in the face of his 
enemies, his King and his Saviour — and died ascribing 
glory to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The Roman gover- 
nor at Smyrna strongly intimates, that the Christians of 
his time worshipped Jesus Christ. The believers of that 
church also, who . wrote an account of his martyrdom, de- 
clare that they themselves did and should continue to wor- 
ship Jesus Christ as the Son of God. And accordingly they 
three times over, in the course of a few lines, ascribe glory 
to the three Persons of the Divine Nature, Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost, in which ascription of glory and praise the 
transcribers of that Narrative likewise unite. This is the 
evidence of the apostolical Fathers. 

Let us now proceed to recapitulate the sentiments of 
the second century. 



Recapitulation of Evidence. 571 
SECTION THIRD. 



QUADRATUS, bishop of Athens, appears to have been 
of the true orthodox faith. ARISTIDES, a philosopher of 
the same city, was equally orthodox. The first fifteen 
Bishops of Jerusalem to the year 136 were the same. 
MILTIADES about 150, held the same opinions. HEGE- 
SIPPUS was of the same faith. 

SECTION FOURTH, 

JUSTIN MARTYR, not the first who held the doc- 
trine of the Trinity — declares that he and his friends wor- 
shipped Father, Sonj and Spirit — that Christ instructed 
them in adoring in this order — that Christ is the Logos, the 
Son, the First-begotten, and Power of God, who became 
man— that he is not to be considered as mere man, but 
possessed of Divinity — that the Logos was the first power 
next to the Father and Lord of all, and that he was made 
man — that the Logos and Son of God is also God — that, 
after the Father, they worshipped the Word of God, who 
became man — that he was God off God, pre-existed in the 
form of God, and was born man of a virgin — that this Be- 
gotten of God is sometimes called the Glory of the Lord, 
the Son, the Wisdom, and the Angel of God ; sometimes 
God, Lord, and Logos — that he was God and became man 
— that he is the Maker and Governor of the universe. He, 
moreover, declares, that all these principles were not his 
own private opinions merely, but the common, well-known 
sentiments of Christians in these first and purest ages. 

TATIAN also received the pre-existence and divinity of 
Jesus Christ. ALEXANDER, the martyr, died professing 
the worship of Christ. EPIPODIUS, the martyr, acknow- 
ledged Christ to be eternal — God and man — and God with 
the Father and Holy Ghost. MELITO, bishop of Sardis, 
speaks of Christ as perfect God and perfect man — as true 
God eternally — and declares that the Christians of his day 
together with the Father, worshipped Christ, who is truly 
God before all ages. THEOPHILUS, of Antioch, declares 
that the Word is the Son of God— that the first three days 
of the creation were types of the Trinity, God, his Word, 



5/2 Recapitulation of Evidence. 

and Wisdom— that the Word was God, and sprung from 
God — and that when God said, Let us make man, he spake 
to his Word and Wisdom. ATHENA GOR AS acknow- 
ledges the three persons of the Divine Nature, and speaks 
of them pretty much at large, in a manner utterly incon- 
sistent with every idea of Socinianism. ANDRONICUS, 
the martyr, invoked and worshipped Christ. ATHENO- 
GINES, the martyr, worshipped Jesus Christ, and ascribed 
glory to Father, Son, and Spirit. BLANDINA, the martyr, 
addressed her dying prayer to her blessed Saviour. 

IRENiEUS says, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, 
incarnated of the virgin Mary for our salvation — that it is 
the good pleasure of the invisible Father every creature should 
bow to him — that he is our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and 
King, who shall judge men and angels, and reward or punish 
them according to their respective conduct — that this was 
the faith of the whole Christian world at the time he lived — 
that God made the whole universe of things by his Word 
and Spirit — that Christ was God and man united — that he 
was truly God and truly Lord — being invisible he was made 
visible — being incomprehensible he became comprehensible 
—being impassible he became passible — and, being the Word 
of God, he became man — that he always existed with the 
Father, but in due time became incarnate for the salvation 
of mankind — that he is God, and Lord, the eternal King, 
the Only-begotten, the incarnate Word, the holy Lord, the 
wonderful Counsellor, the mighty God, the Emmanuel — 
that he redeemed us from death by his own blood— and that 
they who say he was nothing more than a mere man, have 
neither part nor lot in his salvation. CLEMENS ALEX- 
ANDRES US styles Christ the living God who was to be 
adored — says he was God and man — addresses him jointly 
with the Father — speaks of the Trinity, and says that all 
things were made by Christ — that Christ is the Son of God, 
and God in the form of man — that the Holy Spirit is omni- 
present, and that the Trinity is to be adored. He says, more- 
over, that the Son of God is the Governor of the universe — 
omnipresent — omniscient — and that to him all the hosts of 
heaven are in subjection. The sum of the evidence con- 
tained in the third century stands thus : — 



Recapitulation of Evidence. 



573 



SECTION FIFTH. 

MINUTIUS FELIX testifies that the Christians of his 
day paid divine honour to Jesus Christ. TERTULLIAN 
declares the faith of Christians at considerable length. He 
assures us that there is but one God — that he made all things 
out of nothing by his Word— that this Word is his Son, who 
appeared variously under the old dispensation to the Pa- 
triarchs in the name of God— that he became incarnate in 
the womb of the virgin, and earned salvation for the sons of 
rnen — that he was man and God, Son of man and Son of 
God -that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy 
Ghost is God, and each one of them is God— that the 
names of God the Father belong to Christ the Son— and 
that the Word is in his own right God Almighty — that the 
Father, the Son, and the Spirit, constitute the Divine Unity 
— that the Logos was the wisdom that assisted at the crea- 
tion, and presided over the whole work—that he is a spirit 
off a spirit, a God off God, both God and the Son of God, 
and God-man. ORIGEN affirms that there is but one God 
— that he made all things out of nothing by his Son — that 
this Son was begotten of his Father before every creature — 
that he emptied himself and became incarnate — that he was 
born of a virgin by the power of the Holy Ghost — that he 
remained God, though made man — that the Son of God is 
omnipotent — that he is the God of the whole creation — that 
we must worship the Father and the Son — and that they 
who say that Christ was only man, are to be considered in 
the light of heretics. CYPRIAN says, that Jesus Christ 
is the God and Lord of Christians, and is to be adored— that 
the Trinity was to be revealed to the world under the Chris- 
tian dispensation — that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
are One —that the Word and Son of God is the messenger 
of salvation — that he was the Power, the Word, the Wis- 
dom, and the Glory of God — that he descended into the 
womb of the virgin Mary, was made man by the power of 
Jt\\e Holy Ghost — and thus God united himself to man — that 
he was the First-begotten and W 7 isdom of the Father, by 
whom all things were made— that the Angel who appeared 
to the patriarchs was Christ and God — that Christ is God 5 



574 



Recapitulation of Evidence. 



and Son of God, and God and man, and Saviour of the hu- 
man race. 

GREGORY, of Neoeaesarea, speaks fully of the Divine 
nature. Among other things to the same purpose he says : — 
The Father always had a Son, and the Son a Spirit. There 
was always the same Trinity without change or turning. 
DIONYSIUS ALEXANDRES! US calls Christ uncreated, 
and the Creator — God by nature — the Word of the Father— 
consubstantial with the Father — God over all—the Lord and 
God of Israel. He says, moreover, the Spirit is God, and 
ascribes glory to Father, Son, and Spirit. DIONYSIUS 
ROMANUS says, the Divine Word and Holy Spirit must be 
united to the God of the universe, and the sacred Three 
must be gathered together into One. He says also, that it 
is blasphemy to say the Lord was made with hands — and 
that the Divine Trinity and Monarchy must be preserved. 
CAIUS, presbyter of Rome, spake of the divinity of Christ 
as the Word of God, saying that many psalms and hymns 
were anciently composed in honour of Christ. He calls him 
likewise true God, and says he sprung in an ineffable man- 
ner from the Father. HIPPOLITUS, bishop and martyr, 
speaks very clearly of the Trinity, and ascribes glory to Fa- 
ther, Son, and Holy Spirit. AFRICANUS also ascribes 
glory to the sacred Three. In the time of PAULUS SA- 
MOSATANUS> psalms were usually sung in honour of our 
Lord Jesus Christ — and the six bishops who wrote against 
his errors call Christ the Wisdom, Word, and Power of God 
—God and the Son of God. NOVATIAN has written a 
treatise expressly on the Trinity, and constantly speaks of 
Christ in the highest style of deity, but yet as God and man 
united. THEOGNOST US speaks of the Son as God off 
God, possessing all his Father's nature. LUCIAN, the 
martyr, delivered his opinion on the nature of our blessed 
Saviour in very strong terms, and much in the spirit of the 
Nicene creed, only with greater copiousness of expression. 
METHODIUS, the martyr, says, that though the Word 
was God, he took upon him human flesh, that he might set 
us an example. PORPHYRIUS, the martyr, invoked Je- 
sus, the Son of God, surrounded with flames. ACAGIUS, 
bishop of Antioch, calls Jesus Christ the most powerful 
God. SAPRICIUS 5 the martyr, in the year 2G0, declared 



Recapitulation of Evidence, 



575 



to his persecutors. We Christians acknowledge Christ to 
be true God, and the Creator of heaven and earth, and of all 
things therein. PIONIUS, the martyr, and his companions 
confessed boldly to their persecutors, that they worshipped 
Christ, the Word of God, and the Creator of all things. 
PIERIUS, a man of great eminence, was sound in the faith 
of Christ's divinity. 

The sum of the evidence in the fourth century is this 

SECTION SEVENTH. 

A whole City in Phrygia were burnt to death while at 
their devotion in the church, " calling upon Christ, the 
God over all," FELIX, the martyr, died invoking Christ, 
and ascribing glory to him forever. THELICA, the martyr, 
died praying to Christ, and calling him by various names 
peculiar to Deity. UITALIS, the martyr, in his dying 
moments, invoked Jesus Christ as his Saviour and his God. 
VICTOR, the martyr, avowed before his tormentors both the 
Deity and humanity of Christ. EUPLIUS, the martyr, 
said to his tormentors, exhorting him to worship the Gods, 
" I adore Christ. I adore the Father and the Son, and the 
Holy Ghost. I adore the Holy Trinity, besides which there 
is no God." AFRA, the martyr, addressed Jesus Christ 
as Almighty Lord God, and ascribed glory to Father, Son 5 
and Spirit, in her last moments. FAUSTUS, JANU- 
ARIUS, and MARTIALIS, martyrs, confessed to their 
tormentors. " We are Christians, who confess Christ, who 
is the one Lord, by whom we and all things were made. 
Martialis in particular said, There is one only God, the Fa- 
ther, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, to whom praise and 
glory are due." PHILEAS, bishop and martyr, boldly re- 
plied to the president who tormented him, that Christ was 
God. QUIRINUS, bishop and martyr, declared openly to 
his tormentors, that Christ is true God- PETER, bishop 
and martyr, acknowledged both the divinity and humanity 
of our Saviour in strong terms. ARNOBIUS is a warm 
advocate for the divinity of Christ, and the religious homage 
which is due unto him. He calls him God, the sublime 
God, and, moreover, gives the reasons why he took upon 
him the nature of man, A Heathen in Arnobius objects to 



576 



Recapitulation of Evidence. 



Christians their daily worship of a man that was born and 
crucified with vile persons, LACTANTIUS assures us 
Christ was both God and man, compounded of two natures. 
He reasons at large upon the subject. ALEXANDER, of 
Alexandria, assures us the errors of the Arians were never 
heard of till they were broached in his time by that deno- 
mination of men. EUSEBIUS of Cesarea tells us, that 
the Son is perfect God off God, co-existing always as a son 
with the father — that he pre-existed, and appeared as a man 
and angel all through the patriarchal and Mosaic dispensa- 
tions. 

J. FIRMICUS MATERNUS calls Christ God, and the 
almighty God — says that the Word of God united himself 
with a human body, and is an object of religious adoration. 
ATHANASIUS says Christ is naturally and substantially 
the Son of the Father — of the same essence with him — his 
only-begotten Wisdom — his true and only Word — truly and 
properly God, being of one substance with the Father. 
MACARIUS says, God became man — appeared to the 
fathers in the first ages of the world — took our nature upon 
him in the folness of time, and in that nature was crucified. 
He, moreover, ascribes glory to the Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost. HILARY wrote largely on the Trinity, and says it 
is immense and incomprehensible — that Jesus Christ is true 
God — and ascribes glory to the Father, Son, and Spirit. 
AUSONIUS says, the one God is three — invokes these 
three Persons — and calls Christ very God off very God. 
CYRIL calls Christ, God begotten off God — and the Word 
of God. He says, we ought to have the same notions of 
the Holy Spirit as of the Father and Son — that he is g al- 
mighty and omniscient, and ought to be honoured as the 
Father and the Son, being one and the same Divinity. 
GREGORY NAZIANZEN was one of the most able of 
advocates for the doctrine of the Trinity. He has several 
discourse upon the subject, in one of which he says — We 
ought to hold one God, and to confess three Subsistences. 
AMBROSE says, there is one Godhead in the three, and 
and there are three in whom is one Godhead, there being no 
confusion in the Unity, neither any difference in the Trinity. 
BASIL was one of the most able and learned defenders of 
the doctrine of the Trinity in the first ages^ and hath spoken 



Addenda. 



577 



at large upon the subject against all it opposers. QUIN- 
TUS PRUDENTIUS addresses prayer both to the Son of 
God, and to each of the Persons of the Divine Nature sepa- 
rately. CHRYSOSTOM confessed and wrote in defence of 
the Godhead of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as being 
all one, adding thereunto a Trinity of Persons. AUGUS- 
TINE was the great champion of his day for the doctrine 
of the Trinity against its opposers of every description. 
THEODORET applies most of the passages, quoted from 
the Old Testament in the former part of this Treatise, in 
proof of the pre-existence and divinity of Christ, in the 
manner we have done, and as it seems to have been custo- 
mary to do in these early ages. Miscellaneous circum- 
stances in proof of the same doctrines. This is the sum of 
the evidence to those evangelical principles, be it what it 
may. The reader will conscientiously weigh the whole, and 
form his judgment accordingly. 

Such is the evidence of all ages, to the truth of these 
doctrines. 



ADDENDA. 
— ♦ — 



A CONCISE SCRIPTURAL VIEW OP THE DIVINITY OF OUIt 
LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST. 

I. Jesus Christ was in being before he was conceived in 
the womb of the virgin Mary. — This appears from the fol- 
lowing passages of the sacred writings. 1. He was the 
God, who fed Jacob all his life long, and the Angel, which 
redeemed him from all evil, to whom he prayed that he 
would bless the sons of Joseph. Gen. 48. 15, 16. 2. He 
was without father, without mother, without descent, hav- 
ing neither beginning of days, nor end of life. Gen. 14. 

pp 



578 



Addenda. 



17—24. Heb. 7- 1—10. 3. The Israelites tempted Christ 
ia the wilderness, and were destroyed of serpents. Exod. 
17- 7- 1 Cor. 10. 9. 4. When Jacob returned to his own 
country he had power over the Angel, the Lord of hosts, 
with whom he wrestled. Gen. 32. 24 — 30. Hos. 12. 3—5. 
5. His goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. 
Micah. 5.2. 6. We were chosen in Christ Jesus before the 
foundation of the world: — we had grace given us in Christ 
Jesus before the world began: — God, who cannot lie, pro- 
mised eternal life to us before the world began. Epho 
1.4. 2 Tim. 1. 9. Tit. 1. 2. 7- Jesus Christ was in 
being when the foundation of the world was laid. John 1. 3. 
Col. 1. 16. Heb. 1. 2. 8. He preached by the Spirit in 
days of Noah, before the flood. 1 Pet. 3. 19, 20. 9. Jesus 
Christ was David's Lord as well David's Son; the root as 
well as the ofTspring of that illustrious king. Mat. 22. 
41—45. Psa. 110. 1. Rev. 22. 16. 10. Jesus Christ 
came down from heaven. John 3. 13. Ibid, 6. 33, 38, 41, 
42, 50, 51, 58, 62.— He had seen the Father. Ibid. 6. 46. 
He was from above. Ibid, 8. 23. — He was not of this world. 
Ibid. — He spake those things which he had heard and seen 
with his Father. Ibid. S. 26, 38. — He proceeded and came 
forth from God. Ibid. 8. 42. — He was before Abraham. 
Ibid. 8. 56— 59. -He came from God. Ibid. 13. 3.— He 
made known to his disciples what he had heard of his Fa- 
ther. 15. 15. — He came out from God, and came forth 
from the Father. Ibid. 16. 25 — 30. He had glory with 
the Father before the world was. Ibid. 17. 5. His disci- 
ples knew surely, that Christ came out from God, and that 
God sent him. Ibid. 17- 8. God loved Christ before the 
foundation of the world. Ibid. 17. 24. Though he was 
rich, yet for our sakes he became poor. 2|Cor. 8. 9. God sent 
forth his Son made of a woman. Gal. 4. 4, 5. Jesus 
Christ was in the form of God, and took upon him the form 
of a servant. Phil. 2. 5, 6, He is the Lord from heaven* 
1 Cor. 15. 47. 

II. Jesus Christ was, with his Father, the Creator of the 
world. — This appears from the following passages of holy 
scripture. 1. All things were made by him, and without 
him was not any thing made that was made. John 1. 3. 
2, He was in the world, and the world was made by him. 



Addenda, 



579 



John 1. 10, 3. To us there is but one God, the Father, of 
whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus 
Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. 1 Cor. 
8. 6. 4. God created all things by Jesus Christ. Eph. 
3. 9. 5. By him were all things created, that are in hea- 
ven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether 
they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers ; 
all things were created by him and for him ; and he is be- 
fore all things, and by him all things consist. Col. 1. 
15 — 17. 6. By his Son God made the worlds. Heb. 1. 2. 

7. Thou Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of 
the earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands. 
Heb. 1. 10. 

III. Jesus Christ, in his higher nature, is the true and 
pnly-begotten Son of God. — This appears from the follow- 
ing passages. 1. Lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is 
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Mat. 3. 17. 
2. Behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them ; and behold, a 
voice out of the cloud, which said ; This is my beloved Son, 
in whom I am well pleased. Mat. 27. 5. 3. Simon Peter 
said to Jesus, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living 
God. Mat. 16. 16. 4. We beheld his glory, the glory as 
of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 
John 1. 14. 5. God so loved the world, that he gave his 
only-begotten Son. John 3. 16. 6. He hath not believed 
in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. John 3. 18. 
See too John 5. 18. John 19. 7. 1 John 4. 9. 7. God 
sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh. Rom. 

8. 3. 8. He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up 
for us all. Rom. 8. 32. 9. God hath translated us into the 
kingdom of his dear Son. Col. 1. 13. 10. God hath in 
these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath 
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the 
worlds; who was the brightness of his glory, and the express 
image of his person. Heb. 1. 1—3. 11. Christ was a Son. 
over his own house. Heb. 3. 6. 

IV. Jesus Christ is of the same nature ; and equal with 
his Everlasting Father. — This also appears from the follow- 
ing scriptures. 1. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, 
against the man that is my Fellow, saith the Lord of hosts* 

pp 2 



580 



Addenda. 



Zech. 13. 17. 2. He said God was his Father, making 
himself equal with God. John 5. 18. 3. What things 
soever the Father doth, these also doth the Son likewise. 
John 5, 19. 4. We stone thee for blasphemy ; and because 
'that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. John 10. 33 
5. I and my Father are one. John 10.30. 6. He that hath 
seen me hath seen the Father. John 14. 9. 7- Believest 
thou not, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me ? 
John 14. 10, 11. 8. All things, that the Father hath, are 
mine. John 16. 15. Ibid. 17- 10. 9. No man knoweth 
the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any man the 
Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will 
reveal him. Mat. 11. 27. 10. Let this mind be in you^ 
which was also in Christ Jesus 5 who, being in the form of 
God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Phil. 
2. 5, 6\ 

V. Jesus Christ is called both God, and Lord, and 
Jehovah. — The scriptures following will make this suffi- 
ciently clear. I. Unto us a child is born — and his name 
shall be called — the mighty God. Isa. 9. 6. 2. Say unto 
the cities of Judah, Behold your God ! Isa. 40. 9 — 11. See 
too chap. 35. 4, 5. 3. His name shall be called Immanuel ; 
which, being interpreted, is, God with us. Mai. 1. 25. 4. 
In the beginning was the Word — and the Word was God. 
John 1.1. 5. Feed the church of God, which he hath 
purchased with his own blood. Acts. 20. 28. 6. Of whom, 
as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God 
blessed forever. Rom. 9. 5. 7. God was in Christ recon- 
ciling the world unto himself. 2 Cor. b. 19. 8. God was 
manifest in the flesh. 1 Tim. 3. 16. 9. Looking for that* 
blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God 
and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us. Tit. 
2. 13, 14. 10; But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O 
God, is forever and ever. Heb. 1.8. 11. This is the true 
God and eternal life. 1 John 5. 20. 12. Many of the chil- 
dren of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. Luke 
1. 16. 13. Thomas said unto him, My Lord and my God! 
John 20. 28. 14. Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid 
the foundations of the earth. Heb. . 10. 15. This is his 
name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah our righteous* 
ness. Jer. 23, 6. 



Addenda. 



VI. Various other Divine Titles are attributed to Jesus 
Christ in holy scripture. 1. He is Most High:— Thou, 
child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest ; for thou 
shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his way. 
Luke 1. 36*. 2. He is the Lord of glory : — Had they known, 
they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Cor. 2. 8. 
3. He is King of kings and Lord of lords : — He hath on his 
vesture, and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and 
Lord of lords. Rev. 19. 16'. 4. He is Alpha and Omega, 
the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last :-- Con- 
sult in proof of this, Rev. 1. 7, 8, 11, 17, 18- Ibid. 2. 8. 
Ibid. 22. 12, 13. Compare with these Isa. 44. 6, and 48, 
11, 12. 5. He is the Lord of Hosts : — Sanctify the Lord of 
Hosts himself! and let him be your fear, and let him be your 
dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary ; but for a stone of 
stumbling, and for a rock of offence, to both the houses of 
Israel. Isa. 8. 13, 14. Compare 1 Pet. 2. 7> 8. where these 
words are expressly applied to Jesus Christ. Compare also 
Isa. 6*. 1—5, with John 12. 41. 

VII. Divine attributes are also ascribed to Jesus Christ 
in the sacred writings. 1. He is eternal:— His goings forth 
have been from of old, from everlasting. Micah. 8. 22, 
Compare Prov. 8; Heb. 1st and 7th chapters 5 and John 

1. 1 — 14. 2. He is omnipresent: — Where two or three 
are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst 

of them. Mat. 18. 20. Lo, I am with you always, even 

unto the end of the world. Mat. 28. 20. 3. He is immuta- 
ble :— The heavens shall perish, but thou remainest \ they 
shall be changed; but thou art the same, and thy years shall 
not fail. Heb. 1. 11, 12. — Jesus Christ the same yesterday, 
to-day, and forever. Heb. 13. 8. 4. He is omnipotent;— 
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith 
the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, 
the Almighty. Rev. 1. 6,— He is able to subdue all things to 
himself. Phil. 3. 21. 5. He is omniscient : — Now we are 
sure that thou knowest all things. John 16. 30.— Lord, thou 
knowest all things. John 21. 17- — He knew all men. John 

2. 24. — He knew what was in man. John 2. 25. — In him 
are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Col. 2. 3. 
He searcheth the reins and hearts. Rev. 2. 23. See too 
Acts 1. 24 ? 25. 



582 



Addenda, 



VIII. The honours due to God alone, are now in heaven, 

and have been upon earth, attributed to Christ.— The fol- 
lowing scriptures will be satisfactory. 1. Divine adoration : 
— And again, when he bringeth in the First-begotten into 
the world, he saith, Let all the angels of God worship him. 
Heb. 1. 6\ The four beasts, and four and twenty elders fell 
down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and 
golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. 
Rev. 5. 8, 2. Divine praises :— Every creature which is in 
heaven and on the earth, heard I, saying, Blessing, and ho- 
nour, and glory, and power, be unio him that sitteth upon 
the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. Rev. 5. 
13. See also Rev. 1. 5, 6; and 7. 10. 3. The honour of 
having a temple ; —Behold, I will send my messenger, and 
he shall pre; are the way before me, and the Lord whom ye 
seek shall suddenly come to his temple. Mai. 3. 1. 4. 
The honour of having priests to officiate to Him no less 
than the Father :— They shall be priests of God and of 
Christ. Rev. 20. 6. 5. The honour of being with his Fa- 
ther the temple of the heavenly Jerusalem : — The Lord God 
Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. Rev. 21. 22. 
6. The honour; of being with his Father the light of the hea- 
venly Jerusalem : - The glory of God did lighten it, and the 
Lamb is the light thereof. Rev. 21. 23. J. The honour of 
having the river of the water of life flowing from his throne : 
He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crys- 
tal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 
Rev. 22. L 8. As the angels in heaven worship Jesus 
Christ in common with the Father, so men upon earth are 
commanded to da the same : — The Father judgeth no man; 
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son : that all 
men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Fa- 
ther. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the 
Father which hath sent him. John 8. 22, 23. 9. Glory is 
ascribed to Jesus by the Apostles as well as to the Father: 
. — -The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will 
preserve me un'o his heavenly kingdom : to whom be glory 
forever and ever. 2 Tim. 4. 18. Consult the context. 
Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Sa- 
viour Jesus Christ. To him be glory, both now and for 
ever. Amen, 2 Pet 3, 18. Unto him that loved us, and 



Addenda, 



583 



washed us from our sins in bis own blood, and bath made 
us kings and priests unto God and his Father : to him be 
glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Rev. 1. 5, 
6. 10. The common practice of Christians, in^the first ages, 
was, to call on the name of the Lord Jesus : — And they 
stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, re, 
ceive my spirit. Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. 
Acts 7. 59, 60. Compare Acts 1. 24 ; Ibid. 9. 14, 21 ; 22. 
16; Rom. 10. 12—14 ; 1 Cor. 1. 2 ; 2 Cor. 12. 7—9; 2 
Tim. 2. 22; and I John 5. 14, 15. 11. Jesus Christ hath 
the honour of being the author of grace in common with the 
Father : — Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father, 
and Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Tim. 1. 2. Rev. 1. 4, 5. 
See also the introduction to several other of the Epistles. 
12. Jesus Christ hath also the honour of being joined with 
the Father in the form of baptism : — Go, teach all nations, 
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost. Mat. 28. 19. 13. The honour 
likewise of being united with the Father and the Holy 
Ghost in solemn benediction : — The grace of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the 
Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. 2 Cor. 13. 14. 

IX. The Atonement made for the sins of the world -by 
the death of the Son of God, a doctrine to which the whole 
bible, as well as the general history of mankind, bears wit- 
ness, implies the Divinity of the Saviour. We need only 
mention one passage on this head, and refer to a few others : 
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God ; being 
justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is 
in Christ Jesus : whom God hath set forth to be a propitia- 
tion through faith in his blood ; to declare his righteousness 
for the remission of sins that are past through the forbear- 
ance of God — that he might be just and the justifier of him 
which believeth in Jesus. Rom. 3. 23—26. See, more- 
over, Is a. 53 ; Dan. 9 ; John 10 ; 1 John 2. 1, 2 ; and 
the whole Mosaic institution compared with the Epistle to 
the Hebrews. 

APPLICATION, 

The above is the substance of what the scripture ad- 
vances upon this great subject. How any person, who gives 
the smallest credit to these several declarations of hoi 



5S4 



Addenda, 



writ, can presume to degrade his Saviour to the rank of a 
mere man, is not easy to conceive. It is to be feared infi- 
delity is at the bottom. The word of God is not cordially 
believed. It was needful, therefore, to give all diligence to 
speak of the common salvation, and to exhort Christians, 
that they earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to 
the saints ; because there are certain men crept in una- 
wares, who deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus 
Christ : For as there were false prophets among the Jews, 
even so there are false teachers among us Christians, who 
privily bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord 
that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruc- 
tion ; whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, 
and whose damnation slumbereth not. See 1 Pet. 2. 1 — 3 ; 
and Jude 3. 4. If such is our situation, highly does it be- 
come us to watch and be on our guard, lest any man spoil 
us through secular philosophy and vain deceit ; for let the 
wise ones of the world say what they please to the contrary, 
we are assured by the highest authority, that in him are hid 
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and that all the 
fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily in him. Col. 2. 3, 
9. The exhortation of Peter is, therefore, full in point, 
where he saith — Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

To him be glory both now and forever. Amen ! ! ! 
Dr. Clarke has given us the following compendious view 
of the Son, Holy Ghost, and blessed Trinity. How utterly 
inconsistent it is with every idea of Socinianism the Reader 
will easily judge. 

I. OF THE SON. 

He knows men's thoughts. He knows things distant. 
He knows all things. He is the judge of all. It would 
have been a condescension in him to take upon him the na- 
ture of angels. He knows the Father, even as he is known 
of the Father. He so reveals the Father, as that he who 
knows him, knows the Father. He takes avvay the sins of 
the world. He forgave sins, and called God his own Fa- 
ther. All things are his. He is Lord of all. He is Lord 
of glory. He appeared of old in the person of the Father. 
He is greater than the temple. He is the same for ever. 
He hath the keys of hell and of death. He hath the seven 



Addenda, 



585 



spirits of God. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning 
and the end. He is the prince of life. He and his Father 
are one. He is in the Father and the Father in him. He 
is the power and wisdom of God. He is holy and true. 
He is in the midst of them who meet in his name. He will 
be with them always, even unto the end. He will work 
with them and assist them. He will give them a mouth, 
and wisdom. He will give them what they ask in his name. 
He hath life in himself. He hath power to raise up himself. 
He will raise up his disciples. He works as the Father 
works, and does all as he doth. He has all power in hea- 
ven and in earth. He is above all. He sits on the throne, 
and at the right hand of God. He was before Abraham. 
He was in the beginning with God. He had glory with 
God before the world was. He was in the form of God. 
He came down from heaven, and is in heaven. He is the 
head under whom all things are reconciled to God. In him 
dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead. He is the image of 
God. He is in the bosom of the Father. His generation 
none can declare. He is the word of God. He is the Son 
of God. He is the only-begotten Son of God. He is the 
first-born of every creature. Other scriptures speak thus : — . 
The kingdom of Christ and of God. The throne of God 
and of the Lamb. The wrath of God and of the Lamb. 
The first-fruits to God and to the Lamb. God and the 
Lamb, the light of the new Jerusalem. God and the Lamb, 
the temple of it. 

Let the Reader compare the above characters of our 
blessed Saviour with that curious declaration of Dr. Priest- 
ley, where he says, " As to the Divinity of Christ, an inge- 
nious man would easily find as many plausible arguments for 
the divinity of Moses/' and then judge how little depen- 
dence is to be placed on the confident assertions of this 
over-zealous and misguided man. 

II. OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

He is the immediate author and worker of all miracles. 
He is the conductor of Christ in all the actions of his life 
here upon earth. He is the inspirer of the prophets and 
apostles. He is the sanctifier of all hearts, and the sup^ 
porter and comforter of Christians under all their difficul- 
ties. Blasphemy against him is unpardonable. He is eter- 



Addenda. 



rial. He is the power of the Highest. He is the Spirit of 
truth which proceedeth from the Father, and which the 
world cannot receive. To lie unto him is the same as to lie 
unto God. To resist him is the same as to resist God. 
He gave injunctions to the church. He is the Spirit of 
glory and of God. He knows the mind of God, as per- 
fectly as a man knows his own mind. Men's bodies 
by being temples of the Spirit are temples of God. 
He is the author of liberty and knowledge. He reveals 
things which even the angels desire to look into. He raiseth 
the dead. We are to baptize in his name. To wish grace 
and peace and blessing from him. To appeal to him as wit^ 
ness in solemn affirmations. To take heed not to resist him. 
To take heed not to do despite to him. To take heed not 
to tempt him. To take heed not to grieve him. 

III. THE HOLY TRINITY. 

" The three persons are styled, Once. — " He which is 
and which was, and which is to come : the seven Spirits 
which are before his throne : and Jesus Christ, the faithful 
witness:" Once — The Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost. 
Once — The Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Once — The 
Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. Twice — The Fa- 
ther, Jesus, the Spirit. Twice— The Father, Jesus, the 

Holy Ghost. Once The Father, Christ, the Spirit. 

Once —The Father, Jesus Christ, the Spirit. Once — The 
Father, the Lord, the Spirit. Once — God the Father, Je- 
sus Christ, the Spirit. Once — He that raised up Jesus from 
the dead, Jesus, the Spirit. Once— The living God, Christ, 
the Spirit. Once — The living God, Christ, the eternal Spi- 
rit. Four times — God, Jesus, the Spirit. Once — God, the 
Son of God, the Holy Ghost. Five times— God, Jesus, 
the Holy Ghost. Once— God, Jesus Christ the Son of 
God, the Spirit of holiness. Once— God, Christ, the 
Holy Ghost. Five times — God, Christ, the Spirit. Four 
times — God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost. Five times — 
God, Jesus Christ, the Spirit. Four times -God* the 
Lord, the Spirit. Twice — God, his Son, the Spirit. Once— 
God, the Lord, the Holy Ghost. Once — God, Christ, 
the eternal Spirit *, 

* Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity, passim. 



An INDEX to the Passages of the Bible that are more or lejss 
illustrated in this Volume. 



GENESIS. 

I. 1, 2, 308, 310, 351, 

352. 
18, ...... 323. 

26, 353, 358. 

2. 17, 359. 

3. 5, 358. 

8. ■ -.«x23. 

10, 132. 

16, 66. 

22 • 358, 359. 

6. 3 S1.0. 

6 130. 

7. 16, 133. 

8. 21, 133. 

9. 16,17, -133. 

II. 7, 359. 

1, 9, 138. 

12. 1, 3,**-« 68. 

14. 17,24, •« 72. 

15. 1,6, 133. 

15. J, 18, -139. 

16. 9,13, .-139. 

18. 17,33, .-140. 

19. 24, 359. 

20. 3, 7,- •••142. 

20. 13, 360. 

21. 12,21, -.142. 

26. 2,5, 69. 

28. 13,14, 69. 

10, 17, .-143. 

31. 7, 3G1. 

32. 24,30, .143. 

35. 7, 360. 

41. 38, 310. 

48. 15,16, 69. 

49. 10,18, .• 70. 

EXODUS. 

3. 2, -137. 

2, 7, 144. 

14, 119. 

12. 29,30, ..145. 

17. 7, 72. 

19. 3,6, 145 



20. 5, 361. 

23. 20,22, -.145, U6. 

24. 9,11, -.146. 

31. 1,3, 311. 

32. 1, 361. 

34. 6, 361. 

35. 30, 35, .-311. 

LEVITICUS. 

9. 22, 364. 

26. 9, 11, 12, 130. 
12, 471. 

NUMBERS. 

6. 24,26, .-362. 
11. 24, 26, . 311, 312. 

21. 5,9,.... 73. 

22. 22,35, .-146. 
24. 1,2, 312. 

17, • 74. 

27. 18, 312. 

DEUTERONOMY. 

4. 7, 364,428. 

5. 26, 365. 

6. 4,.- 365. 

18. 15,19, 74. 

32. 12, 317. 

32. 43, 130. 

JOSHUA. 

5. 13, 15, ..146,163. 
22. 22, 366. 

24. 19, 366. 

JUDGES. 
2. 1,23, .-146. 

6. 11,27, .-147. 
13. 2,23. .-147. 

1 SAMUEL. 

2. 10, 75. 

4. 8, 360. 

10. 6,10, . 313. 

11. 6, »313. 

19, 18,24, .-314. 



58$ 



INDEX. 



2 SAMUEL. 

7. 14, 89. 

23, 366. 

13. 1,7, 86,369. 

2, 3, 325, 369. 

1 CHRONICLES. 

17. 10, 301. 

28. 12, 315, 325. 

2 CHRONICLES. 
15. 1, 316. 

1 KINGS. 

8. 39, 300. 

57, 333. 

2 KINGS. 

18. 5,- 333. 

20. 6, 333. 

NEHEMIAH. 

9. 20,30, .-316. 

JOB. 

19. 25, 27, • • 74. 

26. 13, 311. 

33. 4, 311. 



35. 


10,. 


367. 






PSALMS. 


2. 


1,12,.... 78. 


8. 






16. 






19. 






22. 






23. 












24. 






33. 






40. 






43. 






45. 


» • • • 


81, 82, 367. 


47. 






50. 


1, 


367. 


58. 


12, 


••••368. 


61. 






68. 


• « • • 


83. 


69. 






72. 


• • • • 


83, 106, 161. 


78. 




83,84. 


80. 






82. 






89. 






97. 







102. 84. 

106. 14, 85. 

110. 85, 368. 

136. 1, 3, 369, 

139. 1, 315. 

143.10, ....314. 

149. 2, 369. 

PROVERBS. 

1. 20,23, .-310. 

3. 1, 353. 

8. 87. 

9. 4, 353* 

10, -.370. 

30. 4, 89,370. 

31, 370. 

ECCLESIASTES. 

5. 8, 370. 

12. 1, 352,370. 

SONG OF SONGS. 



2. 1, .... 


•• 89. 


ISAIAH. 


2. 22, 


•• 4. 


6. 1,3,.. 


..149, 370. 










8. 13, 15, 


95. 






10. 12,... * 


• • 372. 


11. 1,3,.. 


99,372. 






28. 16, 


••100. 










33. 22, 


• • 373. 






35. 3,5,.. 


• 100. 


40. 3,5,..- 


•101. 


9,10, • 


•101. 




• 101. 




•316. 




373. 


44. 6. 


. 101, 373. 


45. 14,15, . 


•102. 


22,23, • 


•102. 



24,25, ..102,111. 

48. 16, 316,373. 

49. 7, 374. 



53. 13, 103. 

54. 5. 105, 374. 

55. 4. 104. 

59. 19,21, -374. 
61. 1, 375. 

63. 1,5, 104,105. 

8,10, -375. 

10,14, .-317. 

64. 4, 375. 

65. 1,2, 105. 

JEREMIAH. 

10. 10, 375. 

17. 5,9, ....100,108. 

23. 5, 110. 

6,.. 108. 

31, 22, 430. 

31,34, -318. 

33. 16, 108,126. 

EZEKIEL. 

1. 12, 318. 

34. 23,24,29,112. 

36. 25,27, . -319. 

37. 12,13, -.319. 
54. 23,24,29. 112. 

DANIEL. 

2. 34, 35, 44, 45,.. 112. 

4. 8, 381. 

17, 375. 

26, 375. 

5. 11, 320. 

14, 320. 

18,20, .-375. 

7- 9, 375. 

13,14, .-112, 148. 
9. 17,-« 112,376. 

19, 376. 

24,27, -.114. 
HOSEA. 

1. 6. 92,376. 

3. 5, 93. 

9. 7,"" -320. 

11. 1, 93. 

11. 12, 376. 

12. 3,5,.... 93. 

JOEL. 

2. 29, 320. 

AMOS. 

4. 10,11, 91. 

6. 8....... 92, 



INDEX. 



MICAH. 

2. 13, 120. 

5. 2, 105. 

HABAKKUK. 

3. 15. 

HAGGAI. 

2. 5,7, 320,377. 

6,9, 114. 

ZECHARIAH. 

1. 7,11, ..148. 

2. 10,11, ..114,377. 

3. 1,2,.... 148. 
7, 8,.... 114. 

6. 12, 13, .-115. 
9. 9, 115. 

10. 12, 115,377. 

11. 12,13, -.116. 

12. 10....... 116, 321. 

13. 7, 116. 

14. 5, 116. 

MALACHL 

1. 6, 377. 

2. 15, 321, 

3. 1, 117. 

4. 2, 117. 

1 ESDRAS. 
4. 34,41, -.409. 

2 ESDRAS. 
2. 42,48, .-409. 

7. 28,29, ..410. 
14. 22, 410. 

TOBIT. 

8. 5,6, 408. 

JUDITH. 

16. 13, 408. 

WISDOM. 
1. 4, 7,- " 411. 
7. 22,30, .-411. 

9. 1,4, 10, 11, 18,.. 412. 
12. 1, 412. 

16. 12, 412. 

18. 15, 412. 

ECCLESIASTICUS. 

45. 5, 410. 

46. 5,6, 410. 

51. 10,«»....410, 



590 



INDEX. 



BARUCH. 
3. 35,37, -.412. 
2 MACCABEES. 

15. 27,34, ..411. 

MATTHEW. 

1. 18....... 323. 

18, 23, 94, 105, 157. 

20,21, .-380. 

2. 11, 161,215. 

3. 9,11, .-380. 
11, ...... 324. 

16,17, ••194,324,381. 

4. 10, •• 238. 

7. 21, 225. 

8. 3,-. ••..197. 
28,29, .-162. 

9. 6, 197. 

11. 27, 177. 

12. 8,21, ..110,179. 
28, ..... • 324. 

32, 324. 

41,. 149. 

14. 33, 162. 

16. 13,16, .-160, 
18,19, .-161. 

17. 5, 163. 

25,26, -.178. 

18. 19,20, ..179,226. 

19. 17, 53. 

20. 23,. 53. 

28, 188. 

22. 41, 45 • • 85, 95, 176, 32 4. 

23. 8,10, -.183. 
26. 53,.... - .181. 

63,66, ..200. 

54, 162. 

28. 18,20, . . 54,206,225, 
383, 384. 
MARK. 

2. 5,7,-- -196. 

3. 11,12, -.162. 

12. 35,-- • ••324. 

13. 32, 54. 

14. 61,64, -.203. 

LUKE. 
1. 16,17, .-154. 
30,35, ..154. 
41,43, . • 1&5. 



1. 76,79, .-156. 

2 8,14, - 92, 156. 

25, 32, • -156. 

49, 180. 

3. 16,17, .-158. 

4. 41, 162. 

12. 12, 325. 

22. 61,71, .-202. 

24. 49,52, ..181,232, 

JOHN. 



1 1 . . . 

A. A, • • • 


. . 1 79 I Q1 
A 4 A, Ai7e>. 


1 14 

A, ±<±j 


• .97^ 314. 

At O, Ol'i. 


18 


At>y. 


23 » » • < 




9Q 34 








• • • 




Zt* AO, Ac/, 


• • AOA, lOi. 


94 25 

£<±y AO, 


. . 9R7 


o, • • 




AO, • » • « 




3 14 1^ 

O. A'*, At>, 


• • 73 

• * to. 






27, 36, 


••160. 


14, 15, 


..126, 324. 


5. 17,23, 


..192, 193. 


23, 23, 


••225. 






42, 62, 


••170. 


68, 69, 


. • 160. 






18, 19, 


..180. 






28, 29, 


..180. 


35, 36, 


..180. 


38, • • • • 


-170, 180. 


42,..-. 




49, • • • • 




54,-.. 




56, 59, 


..174. 



9. 35,37, -.168. 

10. 15,- ....178. 
18,..'. ...182. 

23, 39, - .185, 18a 
30....... 31. 

11. 25,26, ..182. 
27," **160* 



INDEX, 



591 



13. 3, 171,287. 

14. l,&c. ..183. 

14, 226. 

23, 183. 

28, 55. 

15. 15, 171. 

16. 12,14, ..167,339. 
13,15, - 327. 

15, 508. 

25.30, ..171. 
30, 161. 

17. 1, 181. 

3....... 55. 

5, 172,174. 

8, 173. 

10, 511. 

11, 21, 24, 25,.. 181. 

19. 2, 331. 

6, 7, 202. 

20. 22, • -327. 

26,29, .-163,164. 

30.31, .-287. 

21. 17,v 161. 

ACTS. 

1. 24,25, .-211,231. 

2. 24,30,33, 212,214,241 

3. 14,15, .. 

5. 3,4, 328. 

7. 30,32, .-260. 

52, .-208, 

55,60, .-208,228. 

8. 29, 328. 

38,39, .-329. 

9. 3, 6, ... • 220. 
14,21, .-232. 

10. 20,.... ..329. 

36, 223. 

11. 12, 330. 

13. 2,4, 330. 

15. 28, ..... . 330. 

16. 6,7, 330. 

17. 28....... 331. 

19. 2,.. 221,222,331. 

20. 23, 28, . -287,359. 

21. 11, 332. 

22. 16,17,21, 226,230, 
28. 25,27, -332, 



ROMANS. 
1. 3, 4,.... 240. 
1. 7, 230. 

8. 9, ..... . 333, 537. 

11, 332. 

29, 246. 

32, 243. 

9. 1, 333. 

5, 241, 255. 

10. 12, 14, • . 233. 

11. 36,.... .-391. 

14. 17,18, .-230. 

15. 5, 6,-... 392. 
19, 333. 

1 CORINTHIANS, 

1. 2, 225,234. 

2. 8, 244. 

11, • 334. 

3. 16, 17, .-334. 
6. 19,20, .-335. 
8. 6, ....... 57* ■ 

10. 9, 73. 

11. 3...... 57. 

12* 7,9,11, 336. 

13. 14. 337. 

15. 24, 57. 

47, 244. 

16. 22, 245. 

19. 9,. 80. 

2 CORINTHIANS. 

5. 18,21, .*246. 

6. 16, 471. 

8. 9....... 247. 

12. 7, 9,.... 229, 336. 

13. 14,. .....362. 

GALATIANS. 

3. 8,17, - 72. 

4. 4, 248. 

EPHESIANS. 

2. 18, 394. 

3. 5, 338. 

3. 19,21, -.249,395. 

4. 5.6,.... 58. 
7,8,.... 83. 

5. 19, 485. 

6. 5, 8,-... 230. 



592 



INDEX. 



PHILIPPIANS. 

2. 5,11, -249,252. 

10.11, -227. 

3. 3, 338. 

20,21, -.252. 

4. 13, 252. 

COLOSSIANS. 

1. 15, 92. 

16,17, -.253. 

2. 2,3,9, .-354,395. 

3. 24, 230. 

1 THESSALONIANS. 
3. 12,13, .-340. 

2 THESSALONIANS. 

2. 16, 230. 

3. 5, 339,395. 

11, 341. 

1 TIMOTHY. 

1. 12, 230. 

2. 5, 59. 

3. 16, 255. 

2 TIMOTHY. 
2. 22, 232. 

4. 7, 8,.... 256. 
18, 231. 

TITUS. 

2. 13, 216,256. 

HEBREWS. 

1. 1,6, 88,229,268. 

8,9, 89. 

10.12, ..267,268. 

2. 9,16, -.269. 

3. 1,6,.... 269. 
7, 341. 

4. 12,13, -269. 
7. 1,10, 72. 
9. 14, 341. 

10. 1,14, .. 89, 

12. 25,26, 70. 

13. 8, -270. 

JAMES. 

2, 1, 217. 

1 PETER. 

1. 2, 397. 

11,12, -.342. 

3. 19... ....212, 



2 PETER. 

1. 1, 216. 

11, 216. 

16,17,21,398. 

2. 1,3, 5,404. 

1, 216. 

3. 18, 216,231. 

1 JOHN. 

1. 1,4,.-.. 290. 

2. 1,2,.... 291, 418. 

3. 8, 74. 

16, 292. 

4. 2,3, 293. 

9,10, 14,293. 

5. 7, 293,294,398. 

7, 8, 343, 398. 

14,15, -.226. 
20, 295. 

2 JOHN. 
3, 231. 

JUDE. 
3,4, .. 5,217. 
14, 15,.. 68. 
24, 25, 218. 

REVELATION. 

1. 1, 59. 

1,8,.... 511. 
4, -343. 

5, 6,..-. 231, 298. 

7, 8, ....206, 299. 

11, 206,299,300. 

17, 206. 

2. 23, 206,300. 

4. 300,344, 

5. 300. 

8,13, .-237. 

7. 10, 237. 

13,8,.... 12. 

19. 10, 92. 

17, 302. 

21. 9,10122, 302. 

22. 1,3,6, .-302. 
12,13,16,177, 303. 

20,21, ..303. 



INDEX. 



A 

ABB J DIE'S opinion on the ex- 
pression, My Lord and rny God, 
page 103 

Acts of the Apostles., decisive on the 
personality of the Spirit, 332. 

Acacius, Bp. of Antioch, confession of, 
522, 

Adam, applied to Christ by the an- 
cient Jew s, 244, 

Adoration, paid to Christ, 224, 

Adrain, his testimony, 448. 

^Egyptians, ancient, held the doctrine 
of the Trinity. 437, 

Africanus, worshipped theTrinity, 519. 

Afra, the martyr, worshipped Jesus 
of Christ, 526, 

Alexander, of Alexandria, advice of, 
concerning prjing too deep into the 
nature of Christ, 205. Doctrines of, 
531, 

Alexander, the martyr, a worshipper 
Christ, 492. 

Allix, opinions of, on the N. T. quota- 
tions from the Old, on Jeremiah, 23. 
6. On Dan. 4. 17. 375. On the Tri- 
nity, 310. Thoughts of, on the coun- 
cil'of Nice, 599.' 

Ambrose, on the deity of the deity of 
the Holy Ghost, 334. Doctrines of, 
535. On Gen, 1.26, 357. On Gen. 
19. 24. 359, On 2 Thess, 3. 5. 396. 

A melius, the platonic philosopher, ap- 
plies John J. 1. to the Logos, 276, 
449. 

Andronicus, a worshipper of Christ, 
404. 

Angel, that appeared to Israel, &c. 
who 145, 148. 

Angels, frequently called men, in scrip- 
ture, 5?, 53. Ministering to Jesus, 
215. 

Arians, ancient, speak of Jesus as the 

apostles did, 253. 
Ancients, how they understood, Rev, 

1. 7, 8. 299. 



Antioch, synod of, applied divine ap- 
pearances in the O. T. to Christ, 
136. Council of, 547. 

Apocryphal books, on the plurality of 
the Divine Nature, 408. 

Appearances, divine, some account of, 
122, Prove the deity of Je^us, 138. 

Appeal, of the orthodox, to antiquity 
for the divinity of Christ, 595, 

Apihorp, on Isaiah, 9. 6. 9b. 

Aratus, quotation from, on the omni- 
prescence of Jupiter, 531. 

Jrians, congregations of, generally 
decrease, 6. Ancient, speak of 
Christ as the Creator, 253. 

Arian, interpretation of the introduc- 
tion to John's Gospel, 279. 

Arius, some account of 601, 

Aristobnlus, an ancient Jew, sentiment 
of, on the Logos, 424, 

Aridotle, expected a divine teacher, 
442. 

Aristides, the Athenian philosopher, 

orthodox, 477. 
Arnobius, doctrines of, 574, 575. 
Arlemon, some account of, 601. 
Asclepiadxs, a worshipper of Christ, 

570. 

Athanasius, applied the divine appear- 
ances of the O, T. to Christ, 137 
On Christ's being the Son of God, 
204. Sentiments of, on the Trinity, 
336, 356. Doctrines of, 533. Ap- 
peal of, to the ancients for the divi- 
nity of Christ, 545. 

Athenngoras, on the Son's being one 
with the Father, 186, Ascribes 
creation to Christ, 97. On the Tri- 
nity, 384. On the Holy Spirit, 308. 
Doctrines of, 493. 

Athcnogines, a worshipper of the Tri- 
nity, 494. 

Atonement, a. proof of the divinity of 
Christ, 40, 4°. Short view of the 
doctrine of the ibid. 

Augustine, on Gen. 1.20,357. Doc- 
trines of, 540. Appeals to the an- 



604 



IN HEX. 



cients for the divinity of Christ, 595, 
Maintains the Trinity from Mat, 28. 
19, 382, 386. 

Ausonius, confessed the Trinity, 535. 

Austin, on God's fraternity, 146. 

B 

BACON, on the advancement of learn- 
ing, quoted, 15. 

Baptism, institution of, Mat. 28, 19. 
ancients and moderns upon the, at 
large, 383, 384. 

Barnard's, quotation from, 24, 25. 

Barnabas, on the pre-existence of 
Christ, 250. Ascribes the creation 
of the sun to Christ, 263, On the 
dominion of Christ, 299. Doctrines 
of, 464, 465. 

Barrington, Lord, conjecture of, on 
Saul's conversion, 220. 

Barron}, sentiments of, on the Trinity, 
351, 385. 

Baruch, book, of, speaks of our Sa- 
viour, 412. 

Basil, applied the divine appearances 
to Christ, 136. A fine passage from, 
309. Doctrines Of, 537. 

Baxter Richard, his views of the Tri- 
nity, 385. 

Bell, on the missions of John and 
Christ, 158. 

Bellamy, a quotation from, on the di- 
vinity of Christ, 189, 191. 

Berrinian, on Rom. 11. 36. 

Berreschit, Rabha, on Gen. 1. 2, 426. 

Beryllus, Bp. of Bostra, some account 
of, 551. 

Bishops, 15 first of Jerusalem, ortho- 
dox, 477. 

Blackmail, on scriptural mysteries, 27, 
28. On the phrase — God's own Son, 
343. 

Blessing, of Moses, explanation of, 
262, 364. 

Blindness, judicial, to be dreaded, 18, 
19. 

Blood of God, how to be understood, 
222- 

Books, on the Holy Spirit, recom- 
mended, 321. 

Boyle, two quotations from, 60, 61. 

Breastplate, represents the Logos, 418, 

Broicne, Bp. a fine quotation from, 
Ibl, 189, 

Brucker, opinion of, on the Fathers 
474, 475, 

Bull, Bp. on the ancient church, re- 
commended, 14 Applied the divine 
appearances to Christ, 125. On 



Col. 1. 16, 17. 253. Quotation from, 

457. 

Burnet, on the caution of Christ, 167. 
On the manner of Christ's working 
miracles, 197. 

Burnet, on Stephen's adoration of 
Christ, 22. On the atonement, re- 
commended, 266. On the seven spi- 
rits, 298. 

Burgess, on Christ's pre-existence, 177, 
178. On his declaring himself the 
Son of God, 200, 202. On the wor- 
ship of Christ, 226, 

Burgh, on Phil 2. 5—8. 252. 

Butler, Analogy of, quoted, 10. On 
the atonement, recommended, 266. 

C ' '* 

CAIUS, doctrines of, 545, 518. Ap- 
^ peal of; to the ancients^ 594. 
Calcedon, council of, 551, 
Calvin, on the divinity of the Spirit, 

334. 

Campell, on the two first chapters of 

Matthew and Luke, 158. 
Cams, emperor of Rome, adopted his 

two sons, 7. 
Carthage, council of, by Cyprian, 596. 
Catholic construction of John, 1. 1— 12» 

281. 

Celsus, testimony of, to the worship of 
Christ, 448, 

Cerinthus, story of, concerning the 
bath, a proof of the early reception 
of Christ's divinity, 43, Some ac- 
count of, 600. 

Chalcidius, acknowledged the three 
principles, 450. 

Cherubim, symbolical of the Logos, 
417. 

Chinese, worship a Trinity, 452. Ab- 
surdity of treating him as a mere 
man, 42. 

Christ, divinity of, rejected with dan- 
ger, 4. Necessary to the decorum 
cf scripture, 42, Mecessary to his 
being a proper mediator, 44. Ar- 
gued from the ancient heresies, 50. 
Objections to, answered, ibid. A 
treatise on, from the French, 181. 
The doctrine of the Reformers, 51, 
Jehovah, evidence of his deity, 119, 
120. The angel that appeared in 
ancient times, 145, 148. Either su- 
perior to man or an impostor, 206. 
Simple humanity of, an absurdity* 
120. Invocation of, a proof of his 
divinity, 224, 237. Worshipped 
early through the most distant coua« 



I.N BEX. 



605 



tries, 233. The Son of God before 
the creation, 247. Why called the 
Son of God, 283. Called the great 
God, 256. The creator of the world, 
262. Worship of, common before 
Justin Martyr, 446. 

Christ, testimony to, A. D. 134, 448. 
Worshipped, A. D. 230, ibid. 

Chrysostom, on the worship of Christ, 
226. On the authority of the Spirit, 
336, Adores the Trinity, 340. A 
passage from, 373. Doctrines of, 
540. ' On Isa. 6. 3. 371. 

Church, early errurs of, 24'; 

Churches, ancient, both eastern and 
western, over-fun by conquerors for 

• the corruptions which prevailed in 
them, 5, 6. 

Cicero, ascribes the design of saving 
his country to God, 313. Speaks of 
a'Trinity, 443. 

Clarke, his opinion of, on the Soci- 
nions, 26. On the expression, My 
Lord and my God, 164. On Christ's 
coming down from heaven, 168. 
On, Before Abraham was, I am 
174. On Christ's calling God his 
Father, 193. On Christ's saying, 
Thy sins are forgiven, 220. On the 
worship of Christ, 226. On Col. 1. 
16, 17. 253. Applies all the divine 
appeirances in the O. T. to Christ, 
260, On the introduction of John's 
gospel, 280. Allows that Christ is 
truly God, 295. Reflections on the 
Scripture Doctrine of, 459, 460, 
Treated 1 John 5. 7, with great dis- 
ingenuousness, 295. 

Clemens, Romanus, considers th? scrip- 
ture as -inspired, 78. On the two 

■ natures of Christ, 241. Alludes to 
Phil. 2. 5— S. 250. Doctrine of, 
466, 

Clemens, Alexandrinus, declares in fa- 
vor of the Son's pre-existence, 87, 
> 145, Applies the divine appear- 
ances of the O. T. to Christ, 135, 
145. On Christ's omuiscience, 21 1 , 
270. Alludes to Phil. 2. 5--S.250. 
On the omnipotence of Christ, 299. 
Ascribes ubiquity to the Spirit, 315. 
Doctrines of, 503. 

Conybeare, applies the divine appear- 
ances of the O. T. to Christ, 125. 

Constantinople, council of, 550. 

Constantinopolitan fathers, on the Tri- 
nity, 397. 

Councils, first occasion of, 546. 

Creation, of the world ascribed to 
Christ by all antiquity, 262. Raises 



his character beyond conception, 
ibid. 

Creation of .man, the Father spake to 
the Son at the, 355, 358. 

Crcllius, applies all great characters 

,o to Christ, and yet considers him as 
mere man, 262. 

Cudicorth, short view of the Heathen 
Trinity from, 434, 435, 439, 

Cyclojixpdia, of Chambers, Heathen 
, doctrine of the Trinity from, 434. 

Cyprian, applied divine appearances 
of the O. T. to Christ, i 36. On the 
miraculous conception, 155. Calls 
Christ our Lord and God, 163. On 
Christ's raising himself, 128, On 
his being called God, 191. On the 
worship of Christ. 236. On Rom. 
9. 5. 243. Applies Ps. 50. 1. to 
Christ, 368. A fine passage from, 
on the Spirit, 328. A prayer of, to 
the Spirit, 340. Doctrines of, 513. 
On Mat. 28. 19. 384. On 1 John 5. 
7. 294. 

Cyril, applied the divine appearances 
of the O. T, to Christ, 137. On 
Christ's being the Son of God, 204, 
Doctrines of, 535. 

D 

DA VIS, Dr. on the deity of Jesus, 30. 
Deut, 6. 4. refers to the Trinity, 365 
Dionysius, Romanus, doctrines of 517, 
Dionysius, Alexandrinus, ascribes eter- 
nity to Christ, 264. Doctrines of, 
562. 

Doxetce, errors of, a proof of Christ's 
divinity, 552. 

Doddridge, on Christ's declaring him- 
self one with God, 186. Lectures 
of, recommended, 199, On the 
blood of God, 222, On Rom. 9. 5. 
241. On Col. 2.9. 2*2.5. Declara- 
tion of, on the introduction to John's 
gospel, 279: On Alpha and Ome- 
ga, 300,304. 

Doxologies to the Trinity from the an- 
cients, 393, 394. 

Dryden, quotation from, 432. 

. Mi imUtor. ^J^c'vug^ \S^cin 

EBION, contemporary with John, 
273. Some account of. 551, 

Ecclesiasticus, book of, speaks of the 
Son of God, 410. 

Egyptians, their Trinity, 436. 

Ellis, book of, quoted, 8, 24, 



606 



INDEX. 



Elohim, a plural noun, shown at large, 
352, Objections to, considered, 361. 
Enoch's, his prophecy, 68, 
Ephesus, council of, 551* 
Epiphanius, on the Trinity, 357, 
Episcopius y on the love of God to man, 
179. 

Epistle of John, expressions of, illus- 
trated, 290, 291. 

Epicharmus, speaks of the Logos,~439. 

Epipodius, doctrines of, 592. 

Esdras, books of, speak of the Son of 
God, 408, 409. 

Eusebius, on the divine appearances of 
the O. T. 150. Applies Is. 6. to 
Christ, 149. Applies 45th psalm to 
Christ, ibid. On the opinions of the 
ancient Jews, 419, Doctrines of, 
531. 

Eupolis, expected the Logos to come, 
441. 

Euplius, the martyr, a worshipper of 
Christ, 572. 

EvehigJi's two sermons on the Trinity, 
quoted, 7, 116. 
jj Evans on the atonement, recommend- 
ed, 291. 

Evidence upon 1 John 5. 7. referred to 
295. 

F 

FAITH, not to depend upon our Com- 
prehension of its objects, 401. 
Faith, rule of, 507. 

Fathers, Christian, applied the Word 
to Christ, 273. Doctrine of, con- 
cerning Christ, the Spirit, and the 
Trinity, 457, 594. Utility of the 
writings of, 458, 459. 

Felix, St. the martyr, a worshipper of 
Christ, 572. 

Fiddes, quotation from, 240. On the 
worship of Christ, 162. On Christ's 
high professions, 184, 185. On 
Christ's being one with God, 191. 
On Rom. 9. 5. 242. On Col. 1, 16. 
17. 258. Summary of the sentiments 
of the Fathers, from, 543, 

Firmicus, Maternus, confessed the di- 
vinity of Christ, 532. 

Fletcher, arguments of, against Dr. 
Priestley, 20, 21. Vindicates the 
doctrineof the Trinity, 23. 

Fleming, on the divine appearances of 
the 6. T. 147. 

Forbes, Duncan, thought of, on the 
Trinity, 387. 

Fuller, book of, recommended, 247, 



G 

GENTLEMAN'S Religion quoted on 

Mark, 13. 32. 54, 
Genesis, first two verses of, contain the 

Trinity, 351. 
Gibbon^ gives an account of the Logos, 

275. 

Gilpin, on Rom, 9. 5. 241. On the 
atonement, 266. 

God, right knowledge of, of great im- 
portance. 1. Unity of, essential in 
religion, 11. Perfections of, all in- 
comprehensible, 6i», 62. 

Godhead of Jesus, two natures, 239. 

Gospel, scheme of, attended with some 
obscurity, 14, Rejected by many, 
16. Principles it includes, 66 A 
System of moral Philosophy contain- 
ed in it, 14. 

Gospel, John's, introduction of, illus- 
trated, 272, 286. 

Grabe, on Rom. 9. 5. 242. 

Gray, on Christ's divinity, 195, 

Gregory, Francis, on images of the 
Trinity, 33, Bishop of Neocaesarea, 
doctrines of, 5.36, 

Green, translation of the 2 Sam. 23. 
1—7, by 86, 

Grotius, vindicated from Socinianism, 
26. Illustrates the doctrine of the 
Trinity, 33. On the worship of 
Christ, 226. On the atonement of 
Christ, 266. On the opinions of the 
ancient Jews, 429. 
Guise, applies Jude 24, 25. to Christ, 
218. 

H 

HABJKKUK, the third chapter of, 
applied to Christ, 149, 150. 

Hammond, applied all the divine ap- 
pearances in the O. T. to Christ, 
124. 

Harwood, on Christ's pre-existence, 
73, 75, 173, 175, 248. On the an- 
gels ministering to Jesus, 215. 

Hawker, on Christ's pre-existence, 
17 1 , 177. 271. Sermons on Christ's 
divinity, quoted, 13. On the exal- 
tation of Jesus, 214. On 2 Cor. 8. 
9. 247, On the first chap, of He- 
brews, 259. On the personality of 
the Spirit, 247. 

Hey, book of, on the divinity of 
Christ, 8. 

Hebrews, epistle to the, excellence of 9 

258, 259, 



INDEX. 



607 



Heathens, doctrine of, concerning the 

Trinity, 455. 
Jlcretic, w hat, 511. 

Heresies, ancient, some account of, 25, 
26. 

Hervcy, on Zech. 13. 7. 116. 

Hernias, on Christ's pre-existence, 173, 
On the power of Christ, 299. Doc- 
trine of, 465. On Gen, 1, 25. 356. 

Ilctruscans, had their triple deities, 
443. 

Ilegesippus, orthodox in the faith, 479. 
Hierocles, confesses Christ was held as 
God, 451. 

Hilary, applied the divine appearances 
of the O. T. to Christ, 136. Doc- 
trines of, 434. 

Hill, Rowland, quotation from his vil- 
lage dialogues, 347. 

Hindoos, worship a Trinity, 451. 

Hippolitus, doctrines of, 518. 

Home, Bp. discourse of, on the Trini- 
ty, 12, On the worship of Christ, 
232. 

Ilorsley, on the reproaches of Socini- 
ans, 23, 19. On Saul's conversion, 
221. On the Heathen Trinity, 453, 
On the death of Stephen, 209, 

Howe, a passage from on the Trinity, 
339. 

Hurd, on God made manifest, 255. 
Hurrion, thoughts of, on the Spirit, 338. 

On the worship of the Spirit, 335. 

Recommended, 321. Reasons of, 
. why the Spirit is not so frequently 

worshipped, 339. 
Hyppolitus, his reasoning upon the 

form of baptism, Mat. 28. 19. 386. 

I 

IGNATIUS, on Christ's pre-existence, 
173. On Christ's raising himself, 
182. On Christ's omniscience, 211, 

- Calls Christ our God and Saviour, 
216. Speaks of the passion and 
blood of God, 222. On the worship 
of Christ, 223. Prayers of, to 
Christ, 234. Allusions of, to Rom. 
9. 5. l 242. Doctrine of, 467, 471, 
Defence of, 468, 469, 

Ignorance, source of error, 502. 

Immanuel, Bp. Pearson's reasoning 
upon the name, 157. 

Indies, East, doctrine of the Trinity 
believed, in the, 445. 

Infidelity, guilt of it, 15, 16. 

Irenasusi ranked the Ebionites among 
the heretics, 154. Declares that the 
Word existed at the beginning, 87, 
Applies the divine appqarances to 



Christ, 135, 177. On the worship 
of Christ, 235. On Mat. 28. 19. 383. 
On Romans 9. 5. 242. On the pre- 
existent glory of Christ, 250. As- 
cribes creation to Christ, 263. Gives 
an account of the writing of St. 
John's gospel, 273, Sentiments of, 
on the Trinitv, 336. Says Messiah 
spake the decalogue, 145. Says the 
Trinity created the w orld, 354, 357. 
Doctrines of, 495, 502. Solemn ob- 
testation of, 496, 497. Fine epistle 
of, 495, 496. Story he relates, 48. 
Isaiah, most decisive in his testimonies 
to the glory of Jesus, 94. 

J 

JENYNS, SAO ME, on the Trinity, 
403. On the atonement, ibid. 

Jeremiah, prophecies of Jesus, 107. 

Jerome, on the writing of John's gos- 
pel, 27, On Isa. 6. 3. 371. On 
Mat. 28. 19. 382, 386. 

Jesus, his equality with the Father 
illustrated, 4. Various titles as- 
cribed to him in the Psalms, 76, S6. 
Solomon, a type of him, 89, The 
righteousness of his people, 108, 
112. His universal dominion, 112* 
114. 

Jews, expectations of, not to be re- 
garded, 45, Ancient, expected Mes- 
siah to be superior to Abraham, 
to Moses, and even to the angels, 
74. Called the Spirit B^nah, 310. 
Applied slaiah 53. to Messiah, 103, 
104. A fabulous story of theirs, 355, 
Testimonies of, to the Logos, the 
Spirit, and the Trinity, 412 — 43L 
Creed of, 431. 
Johnson, on the atonement, 291, 292: 
John 5. 7. authenticity of, 293, 343, 

S6S. 5. 20, 21. explained, 295, 
Jonesy book of, on the Trinity, refer- 
red to, 18. Preservative of, recom- 
mended, ibid. On Acts 28. 25 — 27, 
332. Criticism of, on 2 Pet. 1, 1. 
216. 

Jonathan, Rabbi, on Gen. 1. 2. 426. 

Jortin, on Melchizedek as a type, 71, 
72. Applies the divine appear- 
ances of the O. T. to Christ, 260 
Grants the doctrine of Christ's divi- 
nity prevailed in the first second 
ages, 475. 

Josephus, speaks of Christ, 430. 

Julian, the Apostate, applies the Lo- 
gos to Christ, 276. Confesses that 
St. John preached the divinity of 
Christ, 450, 



608 



INDEX. 



Justin Martyr, defence of, 482, 483, 
doctrines of, 488, 490 On the wor- 
ship of Christ, 234, 235. Adoration 
of the Trinity, 340. 

K 

KEXNICOTT, on Jos. 24. 19. 366. 
■Kett, on the writings of the Fathers, 
458. 

Kidder, Bp. his demonstration of the 

Messiah, 366, 
Knox, the Christian Philosophy of, 

partially recommended, 331. 
Koran, applies the Logos to Christ, 

276. 

L 

LACTANTIUS, doctrines of, 529. ' 

Law, applied the divine appearances 
of the O. T. to Christ, 125. 

Leslie, Socinian controversy * of, re- 
commended, 34» Short Method with 
Deists of, a means of converting Gil- 
don,. ibid. His summary of the doc- 
trine of the Trinity, 34—39. 

Light foot, says, Christ was the giver 
of the Law, 145. A pplies the seven 
spirits to the Holy Ghost, 343. On 
the manifestations of the Trinity, 
38 J , 385. . 
Libanius, confesses the Christians made 

Christ God, 451. 
Lindsey, errs concerning the Logos, 
130, Attacks the weakest argu- 
ments of his opponents, 18. Rash 
assertion of, 530. 
JLocke, on the morality of the gospel, 
14. 

Locke, John, no Socinian, 26. 

Logos, appeared of old, ,130, 274. An 

Account of, from the Ancients, 275, 

277. ah ...... 

Loicth, on the Septuagint of Isaiah, 

109. Isaiah the 53 translated by, 

103. On Isaiah the sixth chap. 37 1. 
Lucian, the Heathen, bears witness to 

the Trinity, 447. 
Lucian, the Martyr, doctrines of, 521. 
,r ^o^rj «i J:il ^hbbM no t mVjol 
>qq« Slim > M •■> 

MACCABEES, second book of, 

" thought to speak of Christ, 410. 

Macarius, doctrines of, 533. 

Magi, saying of, 433, 

Magus, Simon, attestation of, to the 
Trinity, 446, 551. Author of here- 
sy, 24. 

Man, sinful, needs a Saviour, 21, De- 



- praved, needs a Sanctifier, 11. How* 

constituted, 15. 
Martyr, Peter, illustrates 1 Cor. 15, 

24. 58. On 2 Sam. 7. 23. 367. 
Martyr, Justin, calls Christ God, and 
the Lord of hoits, 80, Considered 
all the divine appearances under 
the O. T, to be Christ, 134. The 
angel who destroyed Sodom, 142. 
Who- wrestled with Jacob, 144. 
and who appeared in the bush, 144. 
On Christ's pre-existence, 173. On 
the worship of Christ, 234. Ascribes 
creation to Christ, 265. Declares 
the Trinity was worshipped in his 
time, 340. On the different charac- 
ters of Christ, 83. On Mat, 28. 19. 
383, On Gen. 1. 26. 358. 

3Iartialis, the martyr, worshipped the 
Trinity, 527. 

Maximimis, emperor of Rome, illus- 
tration from, 4. 

Maximus, partner of Maximinus, ibid. 

Mede, on the authenticity of Revela- 
tion, 297. 

Melito, Bp. of Sard is, doctrines of, 
492, 493. 

Methodius, Bp. of Tyre, doctrines of, 
522. 

Memra, the same as Logos, 129, 134. 
Messiahy what is predicted of him, Ps, 
11. 78. 

Mexican Indians held a Trinity, 451. 

MichaeUs on the N. T. quotations from 
the Old, 77. What he says of Egyp- 
tian Philosophers, 437. 

Mihier, church history of, very valua» 
ble, 506. Too severe upon Tertul- 
lian, ibid. 

Milton, no Socinian, 26. Received the 
pre-existence of Christ, 126. Ad- 
dress of, to the Holy Ghost, 308, 
On the creation^ recommended, 123, 

Miltuules, A. D. 150, orthodox, 478. 

Minutius, Felix, considered Christ as 
more than man, 227, 

Miracles, manner of, a proof of Christ's 
divinity, 199. 

Moses, son of Nachman, applies the 
divine appearances of the O, T. to 
Christ, 128.129. Opinions of, on 
the Logos, 428. 
Mystery, Socinians have changed its 
place, 43. 

' . N ' < hjv * iiad 

NAZIANGEN, Gregory, asserts the 
pre-existence of Christ, 309, Two 
fine passages from, 309, 333. "Doc- 
trines of, 



INDEX. 



Nazarenes, not the same as the Ebion- 
ltes, 478. 

Newton, Sir Isaac, no Socinian, 26 
On the authenticity of Revelation, 

Nice, council of, 548. 

Novation, on Hosea 1, 6, 7 92 n n 
Is. 2. 22. 94. On Christ's descend 
from heaven, 163. On Christ's p re- 
existence, 175. On Christ's omni- 
presence, 170. On the power- of 
Christ 192, 193. On his being the 
S f °" of . God 204. On the worship 
of Christ, 243.. On Gen, 2. 17 358 
On Roin, 9. 5. 243. On Gen \ 26* 
356. Applies the story of Hagar <J 
the Logos, 139. Doctrines of, 519 
Ntmsnws* the philosopher, calls Christ 
God, 448. 

O 

m *V%* S t0 tbe Trinit >' a "^er- 
ed, 401,402. 

Onkelos, his paraphrase of, Gen. 49. 

Opinions, some destructive, as well as 
infidelity, 24. 

Origen, declares for the Son's » re-ex- 
istence, 97, 247. Applies the divine 
appearances of the O. T. to Christ, 
13.). On the miraculous concep- 
tion, 155, On the offerings of the 
wise men, 161, On Christ's power 
jn raising himself, 182. On the 
worship of Christ, 193,225 2?S oqk 

God 205, Ascribes the glory to 
Christ, 216. On the eterniJ of 
[ <frf >. 265. On the omnipotence 
of Christ, 299. On the Holy Spirit 
308, 441. OnGen. 1.26. 356? On 
Isa. 6. 3. 371. A passage from, on 
the Trinity, 380. Doctrines of 
more at large, 509—513, ' 

Original sin, how spoken of by Bel- 
sham, 347. 

Orpheus, held the Trinity, 438. 

Otaheite, inhabitants of, hold a Trini- 
ty, 543. 

Owen, declaration of, on Christ's divi- 

g?l» 6 r °; P n *5 C Penality of the 
Holy Ghost, 345, 



PAMPHILUS, what he says of ori- 
gin, 205. 

Parap7trases,Cha.]dee, quotations from, 
on the Logos, I2l 5 134, ' 



CQ9, 

Parmenides, held a Trinity, 430 

Patrick, on JNum. 6. 24 26 S62* 

Paul, treated with great indignity by 

5r- h ? r L eSt ey '" 258 - IIis writing 
establish the deity of Jesus, 219, 

tV \ n~ V J s "P eri or writer to the 
Doctor, 2o9. Rescued from these 
base aspersions, 271. 
Paulus, Samosatenus, council against, 
i>!9. Some account of, ibid. 

FaU.e°" ?95 SVS Ca,linS G ° d his own 

F o7£^V V ° rd Zmwel, 157. 
On { S 6 ?' ^commended, 205. 

Snl rri JI0< Proves that the 
Holy Ghost is God, 335. 

auc ^nt, held the Trinity, 
Peter's Sermon's, 210 <>12 
F of, r 5? 7 i, SbOJP ofMe ^ ad ^, doctrines 
Phiio, .Judasus, applies the divine ap- 
pearances of tbe O. T. to the Logos, 
im 1.4o, Considers the angel at 
Sodom as the Word, J4 2 . On the 
creation of man by the Messiah, 355, 
¥°* So , me acco "ot of, 413. On 
irl'° V % h 8 t . a PPearance to Abraham. 

P/u/cas, Rishop of Thumis, confessed 
the divinity of Christ, 527, 

ct^rr he,dhigh noti ° ns ° f 

Pionus , his testimony, 523. 
Plan, of this Apology, 66 
' d ??? ine ° f > kerning the Tri 
sesfkT- IstudicdtI -laio?M o : 

^cTrist^n \ C ^ iStianS worshipped 
^hnst in h.stime, 234, 446 As 

en bes the invention of arts to God^ 

P^^ oft h eDiineNatu o 
thens 407 by JeWS and h ^ 

wors,,i PPed Christ, 2 S 4 
Porphyry, allows Christian. 

P«l Christ i„ his lime jsl, Z *' 



610 



INDEX. 



Porphyrins, the martyr, a worshipper 
of Christ, 522. 

Prayer, frequently addressed by the 
apostles to Jesus, 231. An ancient 
one, to the Trinity, 361, By the 
followers of the apostles, 231. 

P re-existence of Jesus, 239, 257. 

Price, on Christ's descent from hea- 
ven, 170. On his pre-existence, 169. 
176, 247, 249, 293. On Heb. 2. 9. 
16, 269. On the power and glory 
of Christ, 213, 214, On the love of 
Christ which passeth knowledge, 
249. On Christ's being in the form 
of God, 251, On 1 John 4. 9, 10, 14. 
293, 

Priestley, begs the question on the Tri- 
nity and atonement, 18. And St. 
Paul at issue, 127. His bold asser- 
tions, 127, 258. Degrades the Re- 
deemer marvellously, 212. Illus- 
trates the introduction to John's 
gospel, 278. Amuses himself with 
answering the weakest arguments of 
his opponents, 22, His boast of the 
Christian Fathers, 462, 463. Re- 
flections on his treatment of the Fa- 
thers, 461, 463. Gives up the Fa- 
thers of the second and third centu- 
ries as orthodox in the main, 476, 
On the Epistles of Ignatius, 46S, 
469. 

Proclus, the Philosopher, confessed the 

Trinity, 451. 
Prudentius, Quintus, a worshipper of 

Christ, 539. A passage from, 360. 
Psalms, contain clear prophecies of 

Jesus, 70. 
Pythagoras, held the three Principals, 

424. 

Q 

QUJDRATUS, Bishop of Athens, or- 
thodox, 477. 

Quirintis, Bishop of Siscia, 527. 

Quotations from the O. T. in the New, 
authors on, 77. 

R 

RAMSAY, Chevalier, quotation from, 
on the Trinity, 433. 

Randolph, on the expression, My Lord 
and my God, 167. On Christ's call- 
ing God his own Father, 194, 195. 
On the Son of God, 244. Assures 
us all the Ancients produce John 1. 
1 — 14. as a proof of Christ's deity, 
278, 29. 



Reason, not always attended to by us, 
49,50. And faith, how compatible, 
28, 39. F 

Recapitulation of the evidence concern- 
ing the person of Christ from the O. 
T, 553—556. From the N. T. 556 
—561. 

Recapitulation concerning the Spirit, 
561. Concerning the Trinity, 562. 

Recapitulation of the evidence con- 
cerning the Trinity from the ancient 
Jews, 563---566. 

Religion, state of it, wherein the deity 
of Jesus is discarded, 5, 6 From 
the ancient and modern Heathen, 
567, 570. From the primitive Chris- 
tians, 57 1 , 577. 

Review, Critical, quoted concerning 
the opinions of Sir Isaac Newton, 
26. 

Righteousness, Lord our, remarks on, 
108—111. 

Riftangelius, a Jewish convert, proves 
the divinity of Christ, 427. 

Rom. 9.5. applied by all antiquity to 
Christ, 242. 

Romans, ancient, held a Trinity, 443. 

RuJ/inus, on the character of Father 
and Son, 178. 

S 

SABBELLIAN view of John, 1. 1 — 

14, 27 T. 

Sand/us, declares Socinus' sense of 
John 1. 1 — 14. to be new and un- 
heard of, 279. 

Saprieiits, confessed Christ to be true 
God, 523. 

Satisfaction of Christ, necessity of it, 
40, 41. 

Saurin, Mons. on Christ's divinity, 52, 
Saviour, necessity of a 1, 2. His cha- 
racter, 3. 

Scandinavians worshipped a Trinity, 
451. 

Schemes, of religion, all attended with 
difficulty, 168. 

Schlictingius, the Socinian, allows that 
Stephen worshipped Christ, 229. 

Scripture decisions clear and infalli- 
ble, 400. 

Seldon, assures us the Son of God is the 

Word, 78. 
Seneca, the Phil, ascribes all ingenious 

inventions to God, 31 1. All moral 

attainments to God, 312* Speaks of 

the Trinity, 445. 



INDEX. 



611 



Seneca, the Trag, speaks of a Trinity, 
445, 

Separate state, proof of it, 208, 209. 

Sermon, efficacy of Peter's, 210, 212. 

Serpent, brazen, applied by the Tal- 
mud to the Logos, 72,73. 

Sharpe, applied the divine appear- 
ances of the O. T. to Christ, 124. 

Sherlock, on the Socinian controversy, 
quoted, 14. On John 8. 58. 174. 

Shepherd, on John 1. 1 — 14, recom- 
mended, 279. 

Stwckford, applied the divine appear- 
ances in the O. T. to Christ, 124. 

Siberians, held a Trinity, 452. 

S?nalctus, ihe Socinian, denies them to 
be Christians who refuse worship to 
Christ, 227. 

Socinians, congregations of, generally 
decrease, 5, 6. Foreign, deny that 
our English ones are Christians, 227. 

Socinian view of John 1. 1—14. 278. 

Socinians, how they evade Scripture 
truth, 347. 

Socinianism,t\\e probable consequences 
of its prevalence, 6. Its baneful 
effects, 26. Irresistable reasoning 
against it, 20 — 23. 

Socinus, a warm advocate for the wor- 
ship of Christ, 227. Confession of, 
that orthodox believers had existed 
in the church from the beginning, 
484. 

Socrates, expected the Logos to come, 
441. 

Sodom, destruction of, a proof of plu- 
rality, 358. 

Son of God, different meanings of that 
phrase, 203, 204. On h;s coming 
from heaven, 179, 293, 243, 244. 
An agent in the natural and moral 
creation, 308. 

Spirit, Holy, summary view of, 344, 
345. His divinity proved by New 
Testament writers, 323. 

Spirit of God, scrip'ure view of, 308. 
Notion of, prevailed among the na- 
tions of the East, 320. Why not so 
frequently addressed in prayer as 
the Father, 339. Summary "of bis 
character and works, 344, 345 Dr. 
Owen, on his personality quoted, 
345, 346, His influence neglected, 
331. 

Spirits, seven, explained, 298. 
Stephen, Horslev, on his death, 209. 
StiUingfleet, on the Trinity, 350. 
Sun, a lively image of the Trinity, 29. 
$wift, Dean, on things above and con- 
trary to reason, 44. 

R 



Schismatics, several in the earliest ages, 
retained the doctrine of the Trini- 
ty, 553. 

T 

TACITUS, the Historian, admits that 
the Christians worshipped Christ in 
his time, 233. 

Targums, nature of, explained, 67. 
quotations from, 673, 70, 374, Cu- 
rious account from, concerning 
three angels sent to Abraham, 141. 

Tatian, doctrines of, 491. 

Taylor, on Christ's descent, 169. 

Tertullian, illustrates the doctrine of 
the Trinity by various similitudes, 
31, 32. Considered the divine ap- 
pearances in the O. T. as belonging 
to Christ, 135. On the miraculous 
conception, 154, On the offerings 
of the wise men, 161, On Christ's 
descent from heaven, 169, On the 
worship of Christ, 236. On the two 
natures of Christ, 264. On Gen, 1. 26. 
356. On Mat. 28. 19. 383, On Rom, 
9. 5. 242. On Phil. 2. 5—8, 250, 
On the omnipotence of Christ, 299, 
On the Holv Spirit, 308, 309. Doc- 
trines of, 506, 509. On the Trinity, 
294. 

Testament New, confirms the Old, 379, 
Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs on the 

Logos, 425. 
Theophilus, of Antioch, applied the 

divine appearances to Christ, 136. 

Doctrines of, 493. On Gen. 1. 26. 

356. 

Theodoret, applied the divine appear- 
ances of the O. T. to Christ, 137, 
Doctrines of, 541. 

Theodotus, the tanner, some account 
of, 551. 

Theognostus, Alexandrinus, doctrines 
of, 521. 

Thelica, the martyr, a worshipper of 
Christ/526. 

Tillotson, 44th sermon of, recommend- 
ed against Socinianism, 62, 63. On 
Christ's being in the form of God, 
252. On Christ's being called great 
God, 257. On John 1. 1 — 14. at 
large, 283, 387, On the Heathen 
Trinity, 436. 

Traditions, concerning plurality in the 
Godhead, 436. 

Translation, the latitude of Socinians, 
222. 

Transubstantiation, not parallel to (he 
Trinity, 46 s 47, 

l 



613 



INDEX. 



Tobit, allusion in the book of, to the 
Trinity, 408, 

Toland. Brown's letter to him, 187. 

Trinity, doctrine of, not contradictory, 
28. Illustrations of, 29—34. In- 
comprehensible, 61, 62, Common- 
ly received by the Ancients, 552. 
Held by the Persians, , Three 
persons of, contained in Gen. 1. 1,2, 
351. An imperfect discovery, not a 
contradiction, 18, Several symbols 
of the, 354. Mentioned upwards of 
an hundred times in the Bible, 380. 
Various reasonings on the, 400,405. 
Not a speculative doctrine, 12, 13, 

U 

Unity, divine, not incompatible "with 
a Trinity, 49, 50. A first principle 
in religion, 350. 

V 

VEYSIE, on John 1; 1—14. 282. On 
the atonement, recommended, 291. 

Victor, the martyr, confessed the divi- 
nity of Christ, 526. 

Virgil, speaks great things of a child 
to be born, 444. 

Vitalis, the martyr, a worshipper of 
Christ, 526, 

W 

WAKEFIELD, has taken undue li- 
berties with the scriptures {in his 
translation of the N. T. 222. On 1 
John 5. 7. 343. 

Watchers in Daniel's Prophecy, who, 
375. 

Waterland, eight sermons of, quoted, 
11, 12, On the importance of the 
doctrine of the Trinity recommend- 
ed, 14. On similitudes of the Tri- 
nity, 30. On Gen. 1. 26, 358. On 
Isa. 9. 6, 98 On the safety of con- 
fessing Christ to be God, 245, On 
Heb, 1. 10. 268. 



Watts, life of, by JoTinson and Palmer, 
quoted, 15. No Socinian, 26, 27. 

Watson, on Heb. 1. 1. 261. 

Wesley, sermon, on the Trinity, 44. 

Whitaker, book of, on Arianism, quo- 
ted, 51, Attempts to show that 
Clarke died in the orthodox faith, 
26. On Christ's manner of working 
miracles, 197, 198. 

White, sermons of, quoted, 5. 
Thoughts of, on Socinianism, 26. 
Or. Rom. 10, 12. 14. 

Whitby, on Titus, 2, 13. 256. Remark 
of, on an observation of Crellius, 
On Colos. 2. 9. 254. On Heb, 1. 2. 
263 

Whiston, allows that Christ is truly 
Lord, and God, and God by nature, 
296. 

Wintle, on Dan. 9. 24—29. 114. 
Wisdom of Solomon, book of, speaks 

both of the Word and Spirit of God, 

411, 412. 

Witsius, observation of, on the seven 
Spirits, 343. 

Wogan, Esq. on Isa. 2. 22. 94. 

Word, of God, applied to Christ at 
large, 129, 274, 275, 

Worship paid to Jesus, proves his dei- 
ty, 237. 

Wynpersse, Van de, book of, on the 
divinity of Christ, recommended, 
267. 

X 

XERES, a converted Jew, his ad- 
dress to the Jews, 354. 

Y 

YOUNG, sermons of, quoted, 43. 
Z 

ZENO, speaks of the Logos, 442. 

Zohar, sentiments of, on the Logos, the 
Spirit, and the Trinity, 426. 

Zoroaster, held the doctrine of a Tri- 
nity, 435, 436. 



An INDEX of Writers quoted in this Plea, with the particular 
Edition of their Works to which we havt referred. 

Those marked with an asterism are quoted from some other -writer 
the original work not being in the author's possession. 

AMBROSII opera, a Sorano. Par. 2 torn. 1632. 

Arnobius adversus gentes, apud opera patrum, Lug. 1642* 

Athauasii opera, Coloniae, 2 torn. 1686. 

Athenagorae Legatio, apud opera, Justiui. 

Augustini opera, a Guillard. Par. 1541. 

Barnabae epistola, a Voss. Amst. 1646. 

Basillii Magni opera, 3 torn. Par. 1618* 

Baxter's Works, 4 vols. Loudon, 1707. 

Biblia Polyglotta, a Waltono, 6 torn. 1657. 

Bingham's Origines Eccl. 10 vols. London, 1710. 

Blackwall's Sacred Classics, 2 vols. London, 1737. 

Boyle's Works, 5 vols. London, 1744. 

Bulli opera, a Grabe, London, 1703. 

Burnet, Bishop, on the Articles, London, 1759. 

Burnet, Thomas, de Fide, Lond. 1728 

Butler's Analogy, by Halifax, London, 1788. 

Chysostomi Expositio in epistolas Pauli, 2 torn. 1596* 

Chrysostom on the Priesthood, by Bunce. 

Clarke's Scripture Doctrine, London, 1719. 

Sermons, 11 vols. London, 1749. 

Clementis Romani epistolaea, a Wotton, Cant. 1718. 

Clementis Alexandrini, a Pottero, Ox. 2 torn. 1715* 

Cudworth's Intellectual System, London, 1678. 

Cypriani opera, a Pamelio, Par. 1632. 

Cyrilli Hieros. opera, Lut. Par. 1631. 

Dionysii Alexand. epistola cont. Paul. Samos. apud opera patrum, 
Lugd. 1612. 

Dupin's New History of Ecclesiastical Writers, 8 vols. London, 1696. 

Epiphanii opera, a Petavio, 2 torn. Coloniae, 1682. 

Eusebii Pamph. opera, a Robt. Steph. Lut. Par. 1544. 

Fiddes's Theologia Speculativa, 2 vols. Loudon, 1718. 

Galatinus de Arcanis, Francofurti, 1612. 

Grabii Spicilegium, 2 torn. Oxon. 1698. 

Gregorii Naz. a Morel. 2 torn. Colon. 1690. 

Hammond's Works, 4 vols. London, 1684. 

Hippoliti opera, apud opera patrum, Ludg. 1642. 

Ignatii epistolae, a Vos. Amst. 1646. 

Irenaei opera, a Feuardentio. Lut. Par. 1639. 

Jones's Catholic Doctrine of the Trinity, London, 1767. 

Josephi Flav. opera, Genevae, 1634. 

Justini Mart, opera, Coloniae, 1686. 

Rett's Sermons at Bampton Lect. Ox. 1791. 

Kidder's Demonstration of the Messias, London, 1726* 

Lactantii opera, apud opera patrum, Lugduni, 1642. 

Lardner's W T orks, 11 vols. London, 1788. 

Leslie's Works, 2 vols. London, 1721. 



614 



Lightfoot's Works, 2 vols. London, 1684. 
MiJlius in Novum Testamentum, Oxon, 1707. 
Minutii Felicis Octavius, Cant, 1686. 
Moore's Divine Dialogues, London, 1713, 

Newton's Observations on Daniel and Revelation. London 173& 

Novatianus de Trinitate, apud Tertul opera. 

Origenis opera, per Euseb. Epis. 2 torn. Basil, 1571. 

Ongen cont. Celsum, a Spencero, Cant. 1677. 

Pearson on the Creed, London, 1692. 

Philonis opera, a Gelenio, Lut. Par. 1640. 

Polycarpi epistola, a Voss. Amst. 1646. 

Prideaux's Connection, 4 vols. Glasgow, 1743. 

Ramsay's Philosophical Principles of Religion, 2 vols. Glasgow, 1748^ 

*Ruffinus in Symb. Apestolicorum. 

Scott's Christian Life, 5 vols. London, 1747. 

S til lingfleet on the Trinity, London, 1697. 

Tatiani oratio ad Graecos, apud opera Justini. 

Tertulliani opera, a Pamelio, Par. 1583 

Testamenta 12 Patriarch, apud Spicileg. Grabii. 

Theophilus ad Antolycum, apud opera Justini. 

Theodoret apud Kidder's Demonstration.- 

Tillotson's Works, 12 vols. London, 1748. 

Wake's Apostolical Fathers, London, 1737. 

Waterland's Eight Sermons at Lady Moyer's Lecture, Camb. 1720. 
Waterland's Vindication, Camb. 1720. 

Waterland's Importance of thedoctiine of the Trinity, London, 1734, 
White's Sermons at the Bampton Lecture,. London, 1785. 
Whitsii Miscellanea Sacra, Traject. ad Rhenum, 1692. 
Whitsius de (Economia, Trajecti ad Rhenum, 1694. 

The quotations from, and references to, most of the other writers 
mentioned in this work, it is hoped, will be found sufliciently ac- 
curate for the purposes of consultation. It was not thought neces- 
sary to specify every one of them in this list, but only such as have 
undergone more or less alteration in the several editions through 
which they have passed. The very numerous translations from the 
Ancients are partly selected, but mostly original. The author 
wishes they may convey the sense of the several writers with 
competent precision. He can truly say, he hath not designedly 
perverted any expression to answer a purpose. 



Dewhirst, Printer Leeds- 



LB S ?9 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: July 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-21 1 1 



